The Champion's Protégé
by Gardevoir687
Summary: Despite his loss at The Lily of the Valley Conference, Cynthia is impressed with Ash's performance and decides to trains him. A year later, Ash must collect 8 special badges from the Kanto gyms so he can compete in a tournament to decide the Kanto Region Champion. Rayshipping (AshxCynthia)
1. Prologue

**Hey everybody! This is my first FanFic ever so bear with me please. Since it's my first one, any advice or comments you guys have would be appreciated, just leave a review at the bottom or PM me.**

**This story takes place a year after Ash loses to Tobias in the Sinnoh League. I have not seen every single episode up until the end of Sinnoh so if I make a factual mistake, please let me know. Also, I HATE the Unova region and Kalos region anime (if you want to know why, PM me) so in this fic they, and the pokemon from them, don't exist.**

Ash- 17

Cynthia- 19

Brock- 21

Dawn- 14

Misty- 17

Paul- 16

Gary- 17

Tobias- 18

Delia- 39

Professor Oak- 55

"S"= Speech

'T'= Thoughts

"_PS"_= Pokemon Speech

'_PT'= _Pokemon Thoughts

The Champion's Protege

Prologue

*One Year Ago At The Sinnoh League*

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt! You can do it!" shouted Ash.

"Piiiikkkkaaaaaccchhhhuuuuuuuu!" screamed the little mouse pokemon as he blasted his opponent with electricity.

"Quick, descend and toss it off!" ordered Tobias. His Latios stopped his ascent and made a sharp turn downwards. Due to the force of the climb upwards, when Latios made the quick turn down, pikachu was flown off its back.

"Pika!" said the little mouse pokemon in surprise.

"Use Luster Purge now!" screamed Tobias.

"Groooaaaaaah" cried Latios as he charged up his attack.

"Pikachu, use Volt Tackle!" screamed Ash.

"Pika!" said Pikachu as he surrounded himself in electricity. Latios released a huge purple beam of energy at Pikachu, but Pikachu took it head on and started running through the beam towards Latios. "Pika, Pika, Pika, Pika, Pika, Pika, Pika, Pika, Pika!" he shouted.

"Now! Use Iron Tail!" bellowed Ash.

"Pika, Pika, Pika, Pika, Chu, Pika!" yelled Pikachu as his tail collided with Latios.

A giant explosion set off as the two moves collided and racked the entire stadium. Both trainers put their arms up to shield their faces from the dust. They both stood there in silence, waiting for the dust to clear, to see what had happened. When the smoke finally cleared, both pokemon were laying next to each other unconscious.

"Pikachu and Latios are both unable to battle!" announced the referee. "All six of Ash's pokemon have been eliminated, so moving on to the finals is Tobias, the victor!"

The stadium erupted into cheers for both trainers as the two young men met in the center of the battlefield, congratulating and thanking each other on an amazing battle.

The two pokemon trainers shook hands, in mutual admiration of each other and each other's pokemon. However, unbeknownst to Ash, a certain blonde haired woman, while clapping with the rest of the crowd, was staring right at him.

"That boy is incredible! What a battle! He just might be the one after all! With more training and some proper guidance Ash just might become strong enough to beat me one day!" said the Sinnoh Region Champion, Cynthia. "Maybe I should travel with him? Give him some special training. Who knows how strong he'd become? What do you think Garchomp?" Cynthia turned around to face her lifelong partner and closest friend.

"Gar, Garchomp," said Garchomp.

"Well that settles it then," said Cynthia with a smile. "I'll train him myself."

**This is just the prologue, and other than that last little bit at the end, it's pretty much just copy and pasted dialogue from the anime; the real story starts next chapter.**


	2. Chapter 1

**Alright, chapter 1! This is my first real chapter ever! Wow, I'm feeling pretty nervous right now! Hope you all like it! :)**

**Disclaimer: Does Mega evolution exist? Then, I don't own Pokémon.**

Chapter 1

*Present Time, Somewhere on Mt. Silver*

"Pikachu, use thunderbolt on that boulder!" ordered a voice.

"Pika!" cried Pikachu as he released an arc of electricity from his body that shattered the boulder to bits. The little yellow mouse-like pokemon looked up at his trainer's face, awaiting the next instructions.

"Thirty boulders in a row, that's a new record! Good job Pikachu!" praised the trainer, grinning from ear to ear at Pikachu's performance.

"Pika," squealed Pikachu, before slumping over in exhaustion.

"I think we're done for now; let's go check on everybody else," said the trainer. Pikachu squeaked a quick "Pika" in agreement before climbing up to his usual resting spot on his trainer's right shoulder.

The boy trudged down a worn-out path back towards the self-made base camp where he'd lived and trained with his pokemon for the past year. As he walked, he remembered the reason he decided to leave his friends and family and train in the mountains these past few months: Tobias.

That one name brought up conflicting feelings in the boy. As a fellow trainer, the boy was impressed by Tobias's strength. He was a very powerful trainer with lots of strong pokemon, and the boy respected him for that, but as a person, he didn't like him one bit. He was arrogant and condescending. Understandable, considering his strength, but it still rubbed the boy the wrong way. He thought back to that day when he lost his semi-finals match to Tobias and how he had almost given up on being a pokemon trainer. He had been ready to throw in the towel on his lifelong dream, until one girl reached out to him and changed his mind. She convinced him to continue working towards his goal and had personally trained him so he and his pokemon could get stronger than he ever thought possible. This girl was now his mentor and his closest friend, the Sinnoh Champion, Cynthia Shirone.

*Flashback To A Year Ago, The Night After The Sinnoh League Finals*

The boy sat at the edge of Lake Valor, reminiscing about his adventures in the Sinnoh region. His friends and all his pokemon were sleeping in the Pokemon center. He had gone out for a midnight stroll alone, not even taking Pikachu with him, and decided to sit on a rock overlooking the lake. He started to remember all the fun times he'd had in Sinnoh with Brock and Dawn, all the adventures they'd gone on together, all the times they'd shared, meeting all sorts of people and pokemon alike. He remembered the first time he met Paul. Arceus, he had hated that kid when they first met! But now they were friends; they'd been through a lot together, had many battles with each other, and had eventually come to an understanding. He smirked, remembering the time Paul had been decimated by Cynthia's Garchomp when he'd foolishly challenged her to a battle.

Cynthia.

That thought of her managed to make the boy smile. He liked Cynthia; he respected her. She was strong, confident, a powerful trainer, and graceful in battle. 'I wonder what Cynthia is doing right now? She probably thought I was pathetic in my battle against Tobias,' the boy thought. 'I was barely able to take down just two of his pokemon! Just two pokemon- pathetic!'

All of the sudden he felt the touch of a soft, warm hand on his shoulder. He turned around to see a young blonde woman smiling at him.

"C-C-C-Cynthia! W-w-what are you doing here?" stammered Ash as he stood up to face the Sinnoh Champion.

"I wanted to talk to you Ash. Is that alright with you?" asked Cynthia.

"Of- of course, here, please sit," said Ash, motioning with his hands for her to use the rock he had just been sitting on.

"Thank you Ash," said Cynthia. She sat down on the rock and extended her legs. She put her arms behind her for support and gazed up at the night sky.

Ash's mind started racing at the speed of thought. 'I can't believe it, Cynthia's here. Why is she here? And just when I started thinking about her- wait, she's not wearing her usual black overcoat-'

"Man, Cynthia looks great in her regular outfit, but she's even cuter in normal clothes."

Cynthia immediately sat up straight and turned around to face him. "W-w-w-what are you saying Ash?!" she stammered indignantly, her face as red as a tomato.

"Huh? What are you- oh crap! I said that last part out loud, didn't I?" asked Ash nervously, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

"Uh-huh," said Cynthia.

Ash looked away from her, embarrassed. "Whoops," he said, chuckling awkwardly. "Still, it's not like that was lie or anything. You do look really cute in those clothes." He turned to look at her again. Cynthia's face turned even redder.

'Wow, look at that, Cynthia's blushing! Cute,' thought Ash.

Deciding he had teased her enough, Ash asked, "So Cynthia, what did you want to talk to me about?"

Cynthia took a deep breath. She turned around to face Ash once again, but instead of a blush, she had a serious look on her face.

"I watched your battle with Tobias, Ash."

Ash turned away and stared at the lake. His fingers clenched together and the feeling of being pathetic returned. "Oh, that," he said. "And what did you think of my battle, Sinnoh Champion? It was embarrassing, wasn't it? Tobias completely destroyed me. I was barely able to take out two of his pokemon. I've never lost so badly in my life, not even that time when I lost to Paul at Lake Acuity. I was so pathetic."

"No, Ash I-" Cynthia tried to speak, but Ash didn't let her.

"I trained so hard with my pokemon. We went through so much together and I really believed we could win this time. But I guess that's as far as I'll ever be able to go, isn't it?" Ash's voice cracked, and hot tears starting to trickle down his face. "Four times I've entered a Pokemon League, and four times I've lost! I managed to beat the Orange Island League and the Battle Frontier, so why can't I beat the Pokemon League? Were those victories a fluke? Was it just luck that I managed to win? I guess I'm not as great of a trainer as I thought. Maybe I should just quit now and stop traveling altogether, before I enter another league and embarrass myself when I lose again?! I just feel so worthless! My pokemon worked so hard for my sake, but I let them down. I'm so weak. It's all my fault. It's all my fault. It's all-"

Cynthia leaned over and wrapped her arm around his shoulder. "You're wrong Ash- completely wrong," she whispered softly. "You're not weak. If anything your battle with Tobias proves just how strong you are. Nobody else in the entire league, not even the other finalist, managed to get past even his Darkrai. Tobias annihilated all his opponents with just that one pokemon, but you- and you alone- managed to beat not only his Darkrai, but his Latios too. Tobias's entire team consists of legendary pokemon, and you, Ash Ketchum, managed to take down two of them. Two! Two LEGENDARY pokemon! Do you realize how incredible that is, Ash?"

Ash turned to face her and was mesmerized by her smile. Cynthia continued, "You do know why they're called legendary pokemon, right Ash?"

Ash nodded and wiped away his tears. "It's because they're so much stronger than regular pokemon," he said.

"Exactly!" exclaimed Cynthia. "Their strength is legendary, the best of the best, and you managed to beat two of them. Does that sound like something a weakling could manage?"

"No," said Ash, shaking his head.

"You see what I mean Ash?" Cynthia asked. "You're not weak at all. You're actually one of the strongest trainers I know and believe me, I've met a lot of trainers. The way you treat your pokemon with such love and kindness is awe-inspiring. The way you come up with such ingenious battle strategies that nobody expects is incredible. You wouldn't know about this, but Mr. Goodman makes a list for us Champions every year with the names of all the young trainers to look out for. Do you know what you were ranked Ash?!" Ash shook his head again.

"Ash," Cynthia said softly. "You were ranked number one."

Ash's jaw dropped. "Are you serious?" he asked, dumbfounded.

"I'm completely serious, Ash," answered Cynthia. She gave Ash a huge smile. "You are an amazing trainer, Ash. So please, don't give up on your dreams, ok? You could become so much stronger, strong enough to one day beat Tobias, if you just keep trying and never give up."

Ash looked at Cynthia, mouth slightly agape. 'I knew Cynthia was kind, but for her to do all this for me….' he thought.

"Such a kind Champion," said Ash. "You're right Cynthia, I shouldn't give up from this, I just need to train harder and do better the next time."

"Ash," said Cynthia smiling. Her eyes lit up. "Hey Ash, do you know where you're going to go next?" asked Cynthia.

"No, not really," he replied. "I was planning on going home to Pallet Town, but after that I don't know."

"I see," said Cynthia. "Well then, in that case, why don't you stay here in Sinnoh with me? That way I can help you and your pokemon train and get even stronger."

Ash stared at her for a few seconds, once again shocked. "I'd be honored," he replied.

Cynthia's face lit up as she once again gave Ash a huge smile. Ash smiled back at her. "You're going to get so much stronger Ash, I promise you that."

*End Of Flashback*

Ash smiled out of the corner of his mouth. "Cynthia," he said aloud to nobody in particular.

"Pika?" inquired Pikachu.

"It's nothing buddy. I just miss her. It's been three months after all," explained Ash.

"Pika-Pi," teased Pikachu.

"I am not in love with Cynthia, Pikachu," translated Ash. "I just miss her. You feel the same way too, right bud? After all she's done for us, and it's been three full months since we've seen each other. We just needed some time to train by ourselves."

"Pika," said Pikachu in disbelief.

"Oh, shut up," said Ash, rolling his eyes. "Look we're already back at camp."

**Alright, that's it for chapter 1! Wow, that was intense (for me at least). Let me know what you guys think of it. Be gentle please, this is my first time writing fanfiction. Flames will be ignored. Thanks everybody :)**


	3. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Is Ash a total badass in the show? then, I don't own pokemon.**

Chapter 2

"Hey, everybody! That's enough for today! Come here, I've got something to tell you all!" Ash shouted. All his pokemon stopped their training and started walking over to him.

Ash stood beaming at all his pokemon, his kind black eyes twinkling with pride. His pokemon had grown so much stronger thanks to Cynthia's tutelage but their time alone with him these past few months had pushed them to achieve an even greater level of power. Being forced to work together to survive in the wilderness had brought Ash and his pokemon closer together than ever before. They took care of each other, relied on each other, and helped each other to grow and mature. Of course his pokemon weren't the only ones that had been improving. Ash often trained along with them through various exercises, workouts, and occasionally sparring matches (although he never managed to win). He even learned, with the help of his Lucario, how to harness some of the aura inside him to the point where he could communicate and have real conversations with his pokemon.

All that time Ash spent training his body and mind, added to the several years he had spent traveling the world, had left its mark on his body. Gone was the scrawny little boy who left Pallet Town all those years ago. Now almost 18 years old, Ash Ketchum stood at six foot two. He was lean, fit, and solidly built. After being in the wild for so long, he had only acquired some stubble on his chin, but the dark hair that streamed down his back was in desperate need of a haircut. Now he stood with a huge smile plastered on to his face. His pokemon were his family, and he theirs. But now their training was at an end. It was time to return to civilization and show the world what Ash Ketchum and his family were truly capable of.

Infernape and Sceptile were the first to arrive back at the campsite. Sceptile immediately slumped against a tree while Infernape excitedly made his way over to Ash.

"Ash, I won," said Infernape. "Now we're even with 34 wins apiece."

Ash beamed at Infernape. "Congrats Infernape, I knew you had it in you," said Ash.

"Thanks Ash," said Infernape.

"It won't stay a tie for very long," Sceptile called out tiredly, smiling out of the corner of his mouth. Infernape grinned at the challenge.

Donphan and Glalie were chatting happily about their mock battle as they made their way over. Tailing behind them were Meganium, Typhlosion, and Feraligatr. The Johto starters had all evolved into their final forms thanks to Cynthia's help and they'd only gotten stronger since. Torterra was next along with...was that a Floatzel?

"Buizel, is that you?" Ash asked excitedly.

"Hell yeah it is!" said the Floatzel proudly. "I was sparring with this big lump of land here and evolved! And I beat him too! I'm so awesome!" Floatzel crossed his arms over his chest and grinned, trying to look cool.

"You only beat me because you evolved; I would've won otherwise," corrected Torterra. Floatzel stuck his tongue out at Torterra, and everyone laughed at the otter-like pokemon's antics.

"Well, Torterra's broken pride aside, I'm proud of you, Floatzel!" exclaimed Ash. Everyone laughed, then started cheering for Floatzel

"Thanks everybody," said Floatzel, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"So now that you've evolved and stuff, wanna go a round? Water type to water type." asked Feraligatr.

Floatzel grinned. "You're on! But I'm warning you, I'm a lot stronger now!"

Ash smirked. "As much as I want to see that, it'll have to wait. I have something I need to tell you all first."

"Does it have something to do with our training?" asked Typhlosion.

"You'll find out once everyone gets here."

Suddenly, Bulbasaur bounded into the clearing. The little grass type raced towards Ash and hid behind his leg in fear.

"Leave me alone Heracross!" Bulbasaur said exasperatedly, as if he'd been doing this all day.

"But your sap tastes so good!" replied Heracross, as he emerged from the trees. He flew over to Bulbasaur, pinned him down, and began sucking the sap from the flower on Bulbasaur's back. "So yummy!"

"Stop! It feels weird! Somebody get this psychopath off me!" Bulbasaur cried out, squirming in an attempt to escape from the crazy bug.

"Alright Heracross, that's enough," said Ash, quickly pulling Heracross off of the terrified grass type pokemon. Now free, Bulbasaur made his way to the opposite side of the camp, shuddering slightly, trying to get as far away from Heracross as possible.

As everyone sweat-dropped at the all-too-familiar scene, a distraction arrived in the form of Ash's flying types. Staraptor, Noctowl, Swellow, and Gliscor were all having a race to see who could get to camp first. Staraptor and Swellow were out in front with Noctowl close behind them and Gliscor bringing up the rear. The four dove down to the Earth. It was a close call but, in the end, Staraptor was declared the winner and the proud, regal looking bird bowed as he received a standing ovation from Ash and the other pokemon.

A young Eevee, who had entered the mix while they were all distracted by the race, rushed over to Staraptor, his eyes shining full of admiration. Ash glanced at Eevee and smiled. Out of all his pokemon, Eevee was by far the youngest, having hatched just a few weeks ago. Eevee's egg had been a present from Cynthia as the egg was her Glaceon's. After Ash (who Eevee refers to as "daddy") told her about Cynthia and her mother, Eevee had wanted to train as hard as she could so that when they finally met, her mommy would be proud of how strong her little baby has become. However, Ash told her not to. She was still young and should spent time playing and enjoying her childhood instead of training all the time. Eevee reluctantly agreed, but still watched the other pokemon, trying to learn as much as she could from them.

His Gardevoir and Snorlax suddenly teleported into camp. Gardevoir went over to Ash and gave him a hug while Snorlax just went back to sleep, the giant pokemon being lazy as always. Ash had caught Gardevoir when she was still a Kirlia. He and Cynthia had rescued her from some poachers and Kirlia had decided to join Ash's family. Ash quickly discovered that she was a very clingy pokemon and gave him a hug every time she saw him, a character trait that did not go away after she evolved. Not that Ash really minded all that much; Meganium used to tackle him all the time when she was still a Bayleef. Thankfully, Meganium stopped tackling when she evolved since she didn't want to crush him, but Gardevoir was small and light enough that she could still give him a hug whenever she felt like it.

A Lucario jumped from a tree branch and slammed an Aura Sphere into the ground as he landed, causing blue specks of Aura to sparkle around him, making for one super cool entrance. Lucario looked smug as all the other pokemon stared at him in exasperation. Ash chuckled; Lucario was such a show off. Ash had gotten him as another egg from Cynthia, the mother being her own Lucario. This egg had hatched fairly soon after Cynthia had given it to him, and after a long conversation with his mother, the little Riolu decided to become one of Ash's pokemon. Riolu didn't evolve until after Ash and Cynthia had separated, so the now-Lucario was planning on giving his mother a big surprise the next time they met.

The last pokemon to arrive at the camp were a Charizard carrying a Gabite in his arms. The large orange dragon-like pokemon landed next to Ash, who immediately knew something was wrong. He inspected Gabite and saw that Gabite was unconscious and covered in bruises.

"Gardevoir, Gabite needs medical attention. Would you please get a full restore from my tent for me?" asked Ash. He spoke calmly enough, but with worry in his eyes.

"Of course," replied Gardevoir. She stopped hugging Ash and teleported into the tent. Ash took Gabite from Charizard's arms and gently lay him on the ground.

"Charizard, what happened?" asked Ash softly, his eyes firmly locked on Gabite's unconscious body.

"Same as ever; the kid pushed himself too hard," answered Charizard gruffly, snorting smoke out of his nostrils. "If the little squirt would let himself evolve he wouldn't keep getting so banged up, but he just won't give. I tried to knock some sense into him earlier, but no dice. The kid just won't budge." He looked worried for a moment before his face returned to its usual stoic expression, something that did not go unnoticed by Ash. He smirked at Charizard.

"What's this, Charizard? Is the big bad lizard worried about Gabite? You're not going soft on me, are you?" he joked, in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"Don't push it Ash, I'm still plenty tough to roast your sorry hide," replied Charizard. As if to prove his point, Charizard released a weak Flamethrower at Ash. Ash was expecting this, however, and he easily dodged the attack.

"Don't worry Charizard, I'll talk to Gabite about it," assured Ash, patting Charizard on the shoulder.

"Whatever," said Charizard, crossing his arms before letting out a poorly concealed sigh of relief. Everyone started to laugh until Charizard let loose a huge Flamethrower into the sky and they all instantly grew silent.

"Is there a problem?" he asked, daring them to speak. Nobody answered him though, and their faces remained impassive. They all knew Charizard's 'tough-guy' front was just an act and that he was as worried about Gabite as the rest of them. But they also knew that he would never admit it, and none of them wanted to be on the receiving end of that Flamethrower. The silence was broken as Gardevoir teleported back to Ash's side.

"Ash, I got the full restore," said Gardevoir as she handed Ash the bottle of medicine.

"Great job Gardevoir," said Ash.

"It was nothing," said Gardevoir humbly, blushing slightly from her trainer's praise.

Ash smiled at her before spraying Gabite's wound with the medicine. After a few moments, Gabite started to stir.

"What happened? Where am I?" the dragon type asked, disoriented. He slowly pulled himself up to a sitting position.

"You're at base camp," said Ash. "Charizard brought you back here after you collapsed from training too hard."

"I see. Thank you Charizard," said Gabite, as he turned to face the fire type. He bowed his head slightly in respect and gratitude. Charizard turned away from Gabite in embarrassment and grunted. Some of the other pokemon started snickered, but Charizard glared at them and they quickly shut up.

"Gabite, that's the third time this week that you've collapsed from over-training," said Ash.

"Yeah, I know," said Gabite indifferently.

"Why do you keep pushing yourself so hard?" asked Ash. "Why won't you let yourself evolve? I gave you the everstone like you asked, but if you want to keep it I need an explanation, now! We're all so worried about you, we don't want to see you hurt yourself any more." A look of pain appeared on Ash's face at his inability to help his friend.

"You wouldn't understand," said Gabite glumly.

"Then help us to," Torterra pleaded. Several other pokemon nodded.

"We are all here for you, friend. Just tell us what it is that ails you," said Staraptor. Several other pokemon started talking all at once, letting Gabite know that they were worried about him and wanted to help.

Gabite sighed. "Fine, I'll tell you." He took a deep breath. "It's because of her." He paused. They gave Gabite a few moments to elaborate, but he did not. A confused silence hung in the air.

"By 'her' you mean Cynthia's Garchomp don't you?" guessed Pikachu.

Gabite sighed again and stared up at the sky. "Yes. I need to have another battle with her. Until then I will not evolve for any other pokemon."

"Oh my Arceus! That's so sweet! Gabite's in love!" squealed Gardevoir.

"N-No I'm not!" snapped Gabite, his face reddening slightly. He looked down at the ground. Everyone saw the tiny blush creeping on to Gabite's face and laughed.

"Arceus, I knew I shouldn't have told you guys!" said Gabite as his blush grew larger.

"No need to be shy! You two would make such a cute couple!" exclaimed Gardevoir. Gabite gave a loud "hmph!," crossed his arms, and turned his head away from her. Ash sighed. Gardevoir always got overexcited at the thought of love.

"But then how come you won't evolve, big brother?" asked baby Eevee worriedly, walking over to the dragon type.

"Out of respect for everything she's done for me," answered Gabite. "You weren't born yet Eevee, so you might not be aware of this, but she's the one who helped me evolve from a Gible to a Gabite. She helped me become stronger and I won't evolve for any opponent other than her. It's just a way of showing her my respect for her, that's all."

"You're in total denial Gabite. You sound just like Ash whenever someone mentions Cynthia. Like trainer like pokemon, huh?" teased Pikachu, grinning mischievously. Everyone, except for Gabite and Ash, laughed.

"P-Pikachu!" complained Ash, his face turning red.

"I knew it! Ash is in love with Cynthia after all!" said Gardevoir switching back into her lovey-dovey mode.

"Well, I for one, am glad that Ash has chosen Cynthia to be his mate. If anyone can bring Ash happiness, it's her," said Torterra. Several other pokemon nodded in agreement.

"I'm just glad Ash isn't so clueless anymore," said Infernape. "Remember how he used to act around Dawn? It was sooooo obvious that she liked him, but he didn't notice it once. It was so frustrating!"

"He was like that around May too. It was torture to watch," said Sceptile, groaning at how dense Ash had been back then.

"Let's not forget about Misty," piped Bulbasaur, inciting more groans from the pokemon.

"But now our little Ashy-boy is all grown up," teased Pikachu.

"Hey!" shouted Ash indignantly. Pikachu knew how much he hated his childhood nickname.

"I know, right? I'm just so proud of our little boy," teased Charizard, pretending to wipe away a tear with his claw.

"Charizard, not you too," said Ash.

"Payback sucks, doesn't it, Ashy-boy?" said Charizard, smirking.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up," said Infernape, putting one hand up to stop them. "Ashy-boy?" he asked in disbelief. Pikachu, Charizard, and Bulbasaur all chuckled.

"Yeah, that's the nickname Gary give him when they were kids. Ash hates it," explained Pikachu.

"Wait, Gary? As in, Ash's rival Gary?" asked Meganium.

"That's the one," Pikachu said cheerfully.

"Pikachu! What have you done?" squeaked Ash fearfully. He saw the evil smiles on the face of all his pokemon and gulped, knowing they were never going to let him live this one down.

"Hehe, whoops. Sorry about that Ash," said Pikachu, with the face of one who has no regrets. "More importantly, didn't you have some news to share with everyone."

"Oh yeah, you said something about that before. Are you going to tell us now, Ash?" asked Infernape.

Ash growled at Pikachu. "This isn't over," he whispered in the electric type's ear, causing the Pikachu to shudder. He pulled a letter out of his coat pocket. "Alright, this is a letter from Scott. Sceptile, Swellow, you guys remember Scott, right?"

"Of course, he's not an easy man to forget, Ashy-boy," answered Sceptile, smirking.

'I will get you back for this, Pikachu,' thought Ash. He sighed, ignoring the poorly concealed sounds of laughter coming from his pokemon. "Anyways, a delivery delibird came to me earlier and gave me this. Listen to what it says:

Dear Ash,

How've you been these past three months? Don't worry, I haven't told anyone where you are, especially not Cynthia.

Anyways, I was in a meeting with Mr. Goodshow the other day and he told me something that might interest you. Apparently, being the Champion of two regions is starting to be too much for Lance to handle, so he's stepping down from his position as Kanto Champion. He's still the Johto Champion (since it's his native region), but the League is going to throw a big tournament in order to fill the vacancy.

The rules are simple: all gyms in the Kanto region have been given a special badge separate from their gym badges- the champion badge. You need to collect a minimum of eight champion badges, as per the usual league rules (I never understood why you need eight, it's such a random number, don't you think?). However, those eight badges alone is not enough to enter. Once you've collected the eight champion badges, your next opponents will be the Johto elite four. If you defeat them all, then, and only then, will you earn the right to compete in the Kanto Champion Tournament. The winner will be crowned the new Kanto Champion. The new Kanto Elite Four will be decided by the new champion.

Goodshow plans on officially announcing the tournament two weeks from now. There will be a six month window of opportunity to collect the champion badges. The following three months will be the Elite Four matches of the trainers who managed to qualify. The rest depends on how many trainers make it past them.

I think you should enter, Ash. This will undoubtedly be the toughest challenge you've ever faced but I know you can succeed! You haven't doing all that training for the fun of it after all!

Wishing you the best of luck,

Scott Mathews

Founder and Owner of the Battle Frontier

P.S. Tobias is competing.

A silence fell on the group as Ash finished reading the letter.

"Are you going to compete in the tournament, master?" asked Lucario.

"Lucario, how many times have I told you to call me Ash, not master?" asked Ash exasperatedly.

"Including this time? 3,467, master."

"Lucario!"

"68."

Ash sighed in defeat.

"But will you, Ash?" asked Sceptile. All Ash's pokemon grew silent as awaited his answered.

Ash grinned from ear to ear. "Of course I will. How could I pass up on a chance like this?" A battle-hungry look appeared on the face of every pokemon, even little Eevee. "Everybody, our new adventure starts tomorrow! And we won't stop until we're Champions!" Ash roared and raised his fist in the air. All of his pokemon followed suit and let out their respective war-cries.

'I wonder how Cynthia would react if I became the Kanto Champion?' Ash wondered to himself. The thought of Cynthia made his smile even wider.

**Leave a review please. Any ideas or suggestions you guys might have, I would love to hear them; I'm always looking for ways to improve.**


	4. Chapter 3

**Alright, here's chapter 3.**

**Disclaimer: My ownership of Pokémon is equivalent to the chances of a level 5 magikarp beating a level 100 Arceus.**

Chapter 3

*Outside Of Pallet Town, One Week Earlier*

A young woman arrived a little outside the entrance to the small town of Pallet on the back of a large, dark blue, dragon type pokemon, not usually found in the Kanto Region. She dismounted her pokemon with practiced ease and landed gracefully on the ground. The girl smiled, exposing her perfect, white teeth to the world. Her silvery-gray eyes swept over the area, taking in the peaceful atmosphere of the town.

"So this is Pallet Town, huh Garchomp?" she said to the dragon type. "I wonder which house is Ash's?"

"Gar-Garchomp?" suggested Garchomp.

"Good idea, guess I'll ask around," replied the woman as she returned Garchomp to her pokeball in a flash of red light. She walked into town and soon spotted a young boy with spiky reddish-brown hair that looked about her age. She started running towards him to ask for directions.

"Excuse me," she said as she came closer. "Can you help me with something?"

The boy turned around and noticed a girl he didn't recognize running towards him. His eyes widened as he took her in. There was no denying that this girl was extraordinarily beautiful. She was well-endowed and had a curvy figure that any man would drool over. She was about 5 foot 10 with flowing blonde hair that reached down to her knees and shone in the sunlight. She was wearing a low-cut, strapless black dress that went down to her thighs, and left little to the imagination. He redirected his gaze up towards her face and saw that she wore no makeup. Not that she needed it. He stared into her dark gray eyes and for a moment he was completely mesmerised. Then he noticed two black dangles with a yellow stripe around them on each side of her face, entwined in her hair. The dangles reminded him of his Umbreon.

He smirked. Time for him to turn up the charm.

"My my, aren't you a beautiful young lady? Tell me, how can I help you, cutie?" he asked.

The girl frowned and crossed her arms. She did not like him hitting on her at all. "I'm looking for Ash Ketchum. Do you know where he lives?" she asked, businesslike.

A flash of shock appeared on the boy's face. "Ash Ketchum? Yeah I know where he lives," he said hesitantly. His voice didn't sound so flirty anymore.

"Could you please tell me how to get to his house?" she asked more politely, noticing the change in his tone.

"Why? Are you a friend of Ashy-boy's?" he inquired.

The girl smirked at the nickname. That was one for the blackmail files. "Yes, we're very close," she replied.

A thought crossed the boy's mind. This girl- was she? No, she couldn't be. Ash would never.

"Are you his girlfriend or something?"

"G-g-girlfriend?" she squeaked. "N-no, I'm not his g-g-girlfriend. We're just friends, honestly!" She started waving her hands in front of her in denial, blushing slightly.

"If you're his friend, then you should know he left to train for a while, just him and his pokemon. So why are you here?" the boy asked skeptically.

"W-well, um, s-someone told me he'd be back home soon so I uh, I thought I'd surprise him when he gets here," she said, studying her nails and staring at the floor.

"Uh-huh, and you really aren't his girlfriend?"

"N-no! I already told you, we aren't like that!" she exclaimed. "We're just friends," she muttered before frowning slightly.

The boy noticed the girl's frown but decided to ignore it; he'd heard something much more important after all. "Did you say Ashy-boy is coming back to Pallet Town? Does that mean he's going to compete in the Kanto Championship Tournament?" asked the boy.

"Yes, he- wait a minute, how do you even know about that?" asked the girl suspiciously. "The tournament hasn't even been officially announced yet."

The boy smirked. "Well when you're the grandson of Professor Oak, you hear a lot of interesting things," he said arrogantly.

"Professor Oak's grandson? Wait a minute, you're Gary Oak, aren't you?" asked the girl.

The boy flicked his nose with his thumb. "I see my reputation precedes me," he said smugly.

The girl shrugged. "Not really, I just know your name because Ash told me about you. He also told me you had a huge ego problem, and now that I've met you I see what he means." She smiled at him.

Gary slumped. "Way to kill a guy's mojo," he grumbled.

"Sorry, Gare-bear," said Cynthia brightly.

Gary looked horrified. He turned his head right and left to make sure nobody was listening. "How do you know about that name?" he whispered, terrified.

"Ash," she answered simply. Gary looked furious. "Is there a problem?" she asked, as Gary began to plot Ash's murder.

He gave her the biggest fake smile he could. "Oh no, not at all. And just what would your name be, not-Ash's-girlfriend?" he asked, smirked.

The girl growled at him before answering the question. "I'm Cynthia, Cynthia Shirone."

Gary's jaw dropped. "Cynthia Shirone? The Cynthia Shirone?! The Sinnoh Region Champion Cynthia Shirone?" he asked incredulously.

"That's me," said Cynthia.

"How in the name of Arceus did Ashy-boy get himself the Sinnoh Champion as a girlfriend?!" shouted Gary.

"I already told you, we aren't like that!"

"But you want to be, right?" he teased.

"S-shut up! Just tell me where his house is!" Cynthia shouted.

"You know I'm right."

"I swear, one more word and I'll sick my Garchomp on you." Cynthia glared at him.

Gary gulped. She did not look like she was joking around anymore. He'd heard a lot of rumors about that Garchomp of hers; it was not something he wanted to face.

He sobered up and said, "It's just past that hill over there. There should be a mini-garden on the side and a Mr. Mime sweeping the porch; you can't miss it." He pointed in the right direction.

Cynthia stopped glowering at him and smiled, which for some reason scared Gary even more. "Thank you," she said, already starting to run up the hill.

"You're welcome!" Gary called at her retreating figure. "Have a good day, Miss Champion!"

"Just call me Cynthia, 'Miss Champion' makes me feel old!" she called back, not even bothering to turn around.

* * *

'Almost there,' thought Cynthia as she ran up the hill. She thought about how surprised Ash would be when he got some and saw her, and from there her thoughts shifted to Gary's comments about her being Ash's girlfriend. She frowned. 'I freaked out again. Why do I always freak out whenever someone calls me Ash's girlfriend? I've been called other people's girlfriends by mistake before. The media does it all the time. But the only time I ever get like that is when I get called Ash's girlfriend. Ugh, it doesn't make any sense!'

Cynthia's made it to the top of the hill and saw a house with a garden on the side and a Mr. Mime sweeping the porch. 'This must be the place. It fits Gary's description perfectly,' she thought. She walked up the path to the front door and rang the doorbell.

"Coming!" called a voice from inside the house. A moment later Cynthia heard some muffled footsteps and the door opened up, revealing a smiling, middle-aged woman. "How can I help you, dear?" she asked kindly.

"Hi, my name is Cynthia Shirone, I'm a friend of Ash Ketchum's. Is this his house?" asked Cynthia politely.

The woman smiled. "A friend of Ash? I'm his mother, Delia Ketchum. It's nice to meet you Cynthia."

"Oh, thank you Mrs. Ketchum," said Cynthia. "Likewise."

"So what can I do for you, dear?" asked Delia, still smiling.

Cynthia shuffled her feet awkwardly, suddenly getting nervous. "Um, well I heard that Ash will be home in a few days to get ready to compete in the Kanto Championship Tournament, so I was wondering if, you know, if it's ok with you, if I could umm, maybe stay here for a while and surprise him when he gets home?" asked Cynthia, speaking quickly.

"Ah yes, I heard about the tournament from Scott. So Ash decided to compete in it after all?" inquired Delia.

"Yes ma'am," said Cynthia, nodding her head.

"Well you're welcome to stay if you'd like dear. Are you Ash's girlfriend?" asked Delia, still smiling.

"N-no, I'm not his girlfriend yet or anything like that," said Cynthia, blushing

"Yet?" asked Delia. "So you'd like to be his girlfriend?"

"W-w-what?! N-n-no, I didn't mean that!" stammered Cynthia, shaking her head and waving her arms in front of her in denial. "I'm not in love with Ash or anything!"

"Oh? But I didn't say anything about being in love with him," Delia pointed out in an innocent tone.

"Um-um-I-I-I just-I um-" sputtered Cynthia. She suddenly became very interested in her nails again.

'She's so cute,' thought Delia. "Anyways, you're welcome to stay and surprise Ash when he comes home. Come inside, I just made dinner. Would you like some?" Delia asked, gesturing into the house with her arm.

"Y-yes please. Thank you,' answered Cynthia, as she stepped inside, relieved that Delia had seemingly dropped the topic of Ash.

*Present Day*

It was a beautiful winter morning in Pallet Town. A little warm, but there were no clouds out and the Pidgeys could be seen flying around. A teenage boy riding a large Charizard landed nearby. He was about six foot two with clean, jet-black hair that looked as if it had just been cut. A Pikachu was perched on his shoulder. His wore a pair of black, fingerless gloves, brown combat boots, dark blue jeans, and a maroon hoodie. His clothes made him look slightly intimidating, despite the kind twinkle that shone in his black eyes.

"Thanks for the lift, big guy," he said as he jumped off Charizard's back. He returned Charizard to his pokeball in a flash of red light and smiled as he started making his way down the road. "Wow, it sure feels great to be back, huh buddy? Feels like forever since we've been home." he said to Pikachu, who was perched on his shoulder.

"Pi-pikachu!" cried Pikachu in agreement.

"It's been two years. I wonder how mom is? I hope she isn't too mad at me." He rubbed the back of his neck and continued up the hill for a bit. At last he reached the top, revealing a medium sized house. He saw it hadn't changed much; the garden was still there and Mr. Mime was still sweeping the porch. 'Home,' thought Ash. A giddy feeling washed over him and he excitedly ran to the front door. He took the spare key from under the mat, opened the door, and walked inside.

"Mom, I'm home!" he called out. Only silence answered him. "Huh, I guess she must be out," he said to Pikachu. He looked around the house trying to see if anything had changed. 'It's smaller than I remember,' he thought. Pikachu climbed down from Ash's shoulder and immediately collapsed on the couch. 'Poor guy must be exhausted,' thought Ash. 'He hasn't slept on a comfortable bed in three months. I'll let him sleep while I check out my room.' Ash walked to the stairs, stopping every now and then to look at all the awards and medals his mother had put on display that he'd won over the past few years as a trainer. 'She even polished my trophy for winning the Orange Island League! Mom, you're awesome!'

Ash walked up the stairs to his room and a sense of nostalgia overtook him. "Man, it's been so long since I've seen my room. I hope mom's been keeping it ready for me like she promised." He chuckled as he opened the door to his room, but what awaited him inside was definitely not what he had expected to see. Lying down, fast asleep in his bed and wearing a black nightgown, was a young blonde girl that Ash didn't recognize. His bag slid off of his shoulder and hit the floor with a loud thump. "What the hell?!" he screamed. A million thoughts started racing through his mind. 'Who is this girl? Why is she lying down on my bed? Do I know her? How did she get into my house?!'

Meanwhile, the girl in question was roused from her sleep at the sound of Ash's scream. She sat up and sleepily rubbed her eyes. "Mrs. Ketchum is that you?" she asked. She let out a huge yawn. "Good morning, sorry I overslept again." It was then that she looked up at the person that woke her up; her eyes widened in shock when she realized who it really was. "Ash, you're back." she said simply, before she jumped up and tackled him into a giant bear hug. "You're back," she repeated, her face buried in his chest as she clutched the back of his hoodie. A few moments later, she released him and sat back down on the bed. She started happily kicking her feet back and forth, observing him with a huge smile on her face.

Seeing her smile, something clicked in Ash's brain. He realized he did know this girl, but he still couldn't understand why she was in his house, and more importantly, why she had just been sleeping on his bed. "Cynthia! Is that you?!" he shouted.

"Ow! Not so loud Ash, that hurt. Yes, it's me," said Cynthia. She gave him another quick hug. "It's so great to see you again."

If Ash's mind was racing before, it was nothing compared to now. He tried to ask her why she'd been asleep on his bed, but the words got jumbled on the way to his mouth and what came out instead was, "Why are you here?"

Cynthia's smile faltered a little. "What? You aren't happy to see me, Ash? That's so mean!" Cynthia puffed up her cheeks and made a mock pouty face.

Ash realized that his question had come out wrong and he nervously tried to correct himself. "Er- no, that's not what I meant! It's just-" He took a deep breath to calm himself down. "Why are you in my room, Cynth? And sleeping on my bed?"

"Oh, that's easy, I've been-"

"Cynthia, I'm back!" interrupted a voice.

"Oh! That must be your mother," said Cynthia cheerfully as she sprung out of bed. "We'll talk later, ok?"

"Okay?" said Ash, not sure what was going on.

"Great!" She grabbed Ash's hand and started leading him down the stairs. "Hey Mrs. Ketchum! Guess who's back?" she called out.

"Ash?!" cried Delia. Cynthia made it down the stairs with Ash, still holding his hand, and went over to Mrs. Ketchum. She let go of his hand just before his mother tackled him in a giant bear hug. "You're finally home!" she exclaimed, half-laughing, half-crying, out of joy.

"Mom," said Ash. "Sorry I had you worrying so much." He gave his mother a kiss on her forehead. He didn't show it much, but he was ecstatic to see her again.

Delia gave her head a slight shake. "No it's fine Ash, I'm alright, really. Besides, you were on your journey so it's only natural you'd be gone for so long. And it hasn't been all that bad lately. Cynthia here's been keeping me company for the past few days," she said, giving the blonde an appreciative smile. Cynthia's cheeks flushed slightly as she smiled back.

"Yeah, that's something I've been meaning to ask. Why is the Sinnoh Champion in my house? And why was she sleeping on my bed?" asked Ash, as he turned around to face Cynthia.

"Oh, she's been waiting for you to come home. She says she has something important to talk to you about, but she won't tell me what it is," said Delia suggestively. Cynthia's face immediately turned bright red.

"Mom, knock it off, quit teasing Cynthia. That's my job after all," said Ash, smirking as he wrapped one arm around Cynthia's waist and drew her in close to his chest, causing her face grew to grow even redder.

"Oh, I see," said Delia, grinning mischievously at her son. "My apologies Ash, take your time." Ash smiled back at his mother.

"Huh? What?" asked Cynthia, confused.

Ash stared into her eyes. "So you had something you wanted to talk to me about, Cynth?" he asked with a smile.

That managed to snap Cynthia out of her funk. She pushed her confusion aside, removed herself from Ash's embrace, and coughed to clear her throat. "Um, yes, there is actually."

"And what would that be?" inquired Ash.

"Ash, you're planning on competing in the Kanto Champion Tournament, correct?" asked Cynthia.

"Of course. How could I pass up a chance like that?" replied Ash with his trademark goofy smile.

"That's what I thought." Cynthia shuffled her feet awkwardly. "CanItravelwithyou?" she asked quickly.

"Sorry, didn't quite catch that."

She took a deep breath. "Can I travel with you?" she repeated. "You need to collect the Kanto badges a second time in order to compete, right? So why don't I go with you and help you train? It'll be like old times again. I want to help you and I want to see how much stronger you've become these past three months. So what do you say, Ash?"

Ash smiled at her, then held out his hand and took a bow. "Of course you can, I would be honored to have the Sinnoh Champion as my traveling companion."

Cynthia's face started getting red again. "No need to be so formal, Ash. We're friends after all." They smiled at each other.

"Not that I mind you two flirting, but if you're going to be traveling together, shouldn't you start packing?" interrupted Delia.

"We aren't flirting!" exclaimed Cynthia indignantly.

"There is one thing we have to do first, though," said Ash.

"What's that?" asked Cynthia.

"Come with me," he said, grabbing her hand and dragging her outside.

"Ash! What are you doing?" she cried.

Ash let go of her hand and took a pokeball from his belt. "Let your Garchomp out."

"OK," said Cynthia, still a little confused. She threw a pokeball into the air, releasing her Garchomp in a flash of white light. "What's this all about?" she asked, as Ash gave the dragon a hug.

"It's great to see you again Garchomp." He backed away, leaving enough space between them for a makeshift battlefield. "It's pretty simple actually; a friend of mine just wants a rematch. Gabite, I choose you," he cried, as he threw a pokeball into the air, releasing Gabite in another flash of white light.

"Ash, what's going on?" asked Gabite before he saw the pokemon in front of him. His eyes widened in shock.

"What's wrong Gabite? Weren't you the one who said you wanted a rematch? You said you wanted to prove to her just how powerful you've become, didn't you? Well, now's your chance. Show her your strength, and your will to fight!"

"Are you sure about this?" asked Gabite, apprehensive.

Ash nodded. "It's time."

Gabite nodded in affirmative, his face turning serious. He turned to face Cynthia's Garchomp and pointed his right claw at her. "Gia, I challenge you to a battle!" (A/N: Gia is Cynthia's Garchomp's special species name, used only by other members of her species to tell each other apart)

"Ash, are you going to tell me what's going on or not?" asked Cynthia hotly.

"You haven't figured it out yet? I thought it was pretty obvious, but oh well. Cynthia Shirone, I challenge you to a battle!"

Cynthia looked shocked for a moment, before grinning at the challenge. "You hear that, Garchomp? Our old students are challenging us to a battle. What do you say girl? Should we teach them a lesson for old time's' sake?"

"Gar!" said Garchomp.

Cynthia smiled. "You're on, Ash."

Ash smirked. "Perfect, this will be a three on three match. Switch pokemon after every round. Mom, can you referee for us?"

"Sure, I'd be happy to," Delia said with a smile. She took her position on the field. "This will be an unofficial 3 on 3 battle between the Sinnoh Champion Cynthia Shirone from Celestic Town and the challenger Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town," announced Delia. "Good luck sweetie!"

"Thanks mom," said Ash before turning back to Cynthia. "Ready Cynth?

"You bet Ash," answered Cynthia. "Garchomp, Battle Dance!" Her Garchomp jumped on to the battlefield and let out a mighty roar, scaring several Pidgey out of the nearby trees.

Ash smirked. "You ready for this, Gabite?"

"Oh yeah!" shouted Gabite as he jumped onto the field. "It's evolving time!" he said, as he ripped the gray stone off the string dangling on his neck and tossed it aside. He was immediately surrounded by a blinding white light. When the light died down, in the place where Gabite had stood, was a Garchomp who bared his fangs and let out a mighty roar.

**Epic battle coming up next chapter. ****For now though, leave a review. Flames will be rated on a scale from 1-10 on how clever and/or funny I find them.**


	5. Chapter 4

**OMG! This story has only been out for a day, and I've already gotten so many reviews, follows, and favorites. Thank you all so so much, it means so much to me! :)**

**Also, a shout out to my new beta-reader, Vengeance2 017. He's currently writing a story of his own, so I'll be sure to let you guys know when it comes out cuz it'll be epic!**

**If anyone else wants to beta-read for me, let me know, I'm looking for two more.**

**Now, enough of my rant. ON WITH THE FIC! (Hehe, I've always wanted to say that)**

**Disclaimer: Do you need to give a disclaimer before writing a pokemon fanfiction? Then I don't own pokemon.**

Chapter 4

"An everstone! But what- Ash, what is the meaning of this?" asked Cynthia, confused. Her Garchomp wore the same surprised expression on her face as her trainer.

Ash and Garchomp looked at each other and smiled; Garchomp nodded, and Ash said, "About three months ago, Garchomp here-Gabite at the time- was about to evolve after an intense training match with Charizard. However, much to my surprise, and everyone else's really, he forced himself to stop evolving and immediately collapsed. Once he regained consciousness, all he said to me was, 'I'm not ready yet.' He didn't explain any further than that, but I didn't care. I made that pendant for him and attached an everstone to it so he wouldn't have to worry about it. For over two months he refused to explain what his reason was, and I only just found out a few days ago. Apparently, it was because of her." Ash pointed at Cynthia's Garchomp, who blinked, confused.

"What do you mean, Ash? What does my Garchomp have to do with this?" asked Cynthia, even more puzzled than before.

Ash chuckled before continuing, "Everything. Garchomp refused to evolve before he faced yours in battle; he simply would not evolve for anyone else, no matter what. He said it was the least he could do to show his gratitude towards her for all she's done for him. That's the main reason why I challenged you, actually. My Garchomp has been waiting to battle yours for almost three months now, and who am I to make him wait any longer?" Ash smirked once he finished. Cynthia was stunned. Her Garchomp was even more so, although for an entirely different reason.

"Is this true, Gayle?" asked Cynthia's Garchomp. (A/N: Gayle is Ash's Garchomp's special species only name)

"It is," answered Gayle. "I sensed that I was close to evolving several months ago, when you were still training me. However, our trainers split before I had the chance. You've done so much for me Gia. You've always been there for me; you taught me so much, helped me grow, and helped me get stronger than I could have ever imagined. Remember how I used to struggle with Draco Meteor?" Gia winced as she remembered Garchomp's horrid attempts at Draco Meteor when he was still a Gible. Gayle continued, "And you were the one who helped me evolve into a Gabite in the first place after pushing me to my limits and beyond. You're the most amazing pokemon I've ever met Gia. Waiting to battle you before I evolved was the least I could do to express my gratitude towards you. From the bottom of my heart Gia, I thank you for everything you've done for me. But now, it's time for me to show you what I've learned!" Gayle punctuated his monologue with a roar.

Gia stared. She could hardly believe that this proud Garchomp in front of her was the small, cute little Gible she once trained. Suddenly, Gia felt a strange emotion stir in her heart. Recognizing it for the natural instinct that all pokemon- even legendaries- felt, and, understanding its implications, she blushed. 'I've decided. But first, I want to test him. Let's see just how much stronger my baby student has become,' she thought, excited.

Gia flashed Gayle the sweetest smile she could."Well well, I'm flattered Gayle. Seems my little Gibby has grown up to be quite the man," she teased, winking at him.

Gayle stared resolutely at the ground. "I'm not a little Gible anymore," he said, blushing. "And could you please stop calling me that, Gia? It's embarrassing."

"Oh, I'm well aware," she replied. "I can see you've grown into quite the Garchomp now, but I'm afraid you will always be 'little baby Gibby' to me. That's the thing about teachers, I'm afraid. Old habits die hard. Now, are you ready for the toughest battle of your life, little Gibby?" Gia asked, flashing him another dazzling smile.

Gayle was distracted by her smile for a few moments before he snapped back to his senses. He grinned. "What do you think I've been training for these past few months? I've become a lot stronger since the last time we met, Gia!"

"Good, then come at me with everything you've got," she replied, as she got into a battle stance.

Garchomp growled in affirmative. "And the same to you, Gia. Don't you dare go easy on me; come at me full throttle!" he said, as he adopted a battle stance of his own. She smiled at him one more time before her face turned serious. They both turned to their trainers and nodded.

"Looks like these two are ready to go now," said Cynthia.

"Yep, time for a rematch- the student vs. the master. Let's make this a fight to remember," said Ash. He winked at her.

Cynthia blushed for a moment before she shook it off. "Who has the first move?"

"You're the champ, Cynth," answered Ash.

Cynthia nodded, then called her first move. "Alright, let's start things off with a bang. Garchomp, use Dragon Rage!" Gia roared and let loose a blob of dragonic-blue fire at her opponent.

"Garchomp, reply in kind," said Ash, calm as can be.

Gayle fired a Dragon Rage of his own and the two attacks collided in midair before exploding. Cynthia raised her eyebrow. Even though his Garchomp had only just evolved a few minutes ago, he was equal in power with hers. Just what kind of training had Ash been doing these past few months? Regardless, if ranged attacks were no good, maybe a physical assault would work better for her.

"Brick Break!" she cried. Gia rushed Gayle at blinding speeds, her arm glowing white. But Ash was ready for it.

"Garchomp! Charge in, slide under, and use Dragon Claw!" Gayle charged at Gia too, but instead of meeting her attack head-on, he slid on his knees and ducked under it. He quickly stood up and slashed downwards at Gia with his Dragon Claw, forcing her straight to the ground.

"Garchomp!" cried Cynthia, as Ash's jumped out of harm's way, and waited for his opponent to stand back up. Sure enough, Gia rose back to her feet. She was a little bruised, but even more fired up for the battle than before.

Cynthia could hardly believe it. 'The last time he fought Garchomp he couldn't manage to land even a single blow! Now he gets the first hit in?' thought Cynthia in disbelief. 'If I don't start taking him seriously, this battle could end very badly.'

She flashed Ash a sweet smile, hoping to distract him, before she gave her next command. "Dragon Pulse! Then charge in with Brick Break!"

"Use Dig to dodge!" ordered Ash, completely nonplussed. He was in full-on battle mode, and nothing could distract him. Gayle dove into the Earth, letting the Dragon Pulse pass harmlessly over his head. Gia stopped in her tracks, uncertain where Gayle would pop up.

"Garchomp, use Swords Dance, followed by Earthquake!" shouted Cynthia.

Ash smirked. "Draco Meteor!" he cried.

"WHAT?!"

Gia crossed her arms over her chest and began to glow in red energy, but before she could finish the power up from Swords Dance, a sphere of yellow-orange draconic energy flew out from the ground and into her chest. The impact caused her to cry out in pain, before the sphere exploded, sent her flying, and spewed dust everywhere. Cynthia growled and balled her hands into fists. She ground her teeth, and mentally cursed herself for underestimating Ash again. When the smoke cleared, Gia was breathing heavily, but still raring to go, while Gayle was nowhere to be found. 'He must still be underground,' reasoned Cynthia. She instantly formulated a plan.

"Garchomp, Dragon Rage into the hole!" she screamed.

Ash smirked again. "Bad move, Cynth! Garchomp, fire a Dragon Pulse while she can't dodge, then hit her from behind with a Brick Break!"

Gayle roared as he leapt out from behind a tree and fired a beam of draconic energy at Gia. She barely had time to cross her arms to defend herself before she was hit dead center by the super effective move. And when she opened her eyes, Gayle was already behind her, and his powerful Brick Break sent her flying into a tree.

"What?! But he was underground?!" exclaimed Cynthia.

"Nope," said Ash calmly. "He used the smoke from the Draco Meteor as cover to get above ground and behind that tree without being seen."

Cynthia growled again. Ash had been dominating the entire time. She hadn't even managed to land a single blow! That is not the way things are supposed to go! She was being destroyed by her student!

"Time to step things up a notch, Garchomp! Use Dragon Pulse!" she cried.

"You do the same," said Ash calmly. The two dragons let out their respective beams of draconic energy which collided midway and exploded. The two dragons' attacks were once again equal in strength.

"OK then, try this. Draco Meteor!" she screamed. Gia's mouth glowed a yellow-orange as she prepared to fire the most powerful dragon type attack into the sky.

"Quickly Garchomp, use Dragon Claw while she's firing, then shoot down that Draco Meteor with Dragon Rage!" cried Ash.

"WHATt?!" was all Cynthia had time to shout before Gia fired her Draco Meteor into the sky then was sent flying into another tree courtesy of Gayle's Dragon Claw. Gayle wasted no time and launched a Dragon Rage up at the Draco Meteor. His aim was true, and his Dragon Rage collided with Gia's Draco Meteor, which caused a mid-air explosion that sent harmless sparks of draconic energy raining down on the battle field.

"UNBELIEVABLE!" screamed Cynthia. Slowly, Gia managed to get back to her feet.

"Come on Gia, I thought I told you not to hold back," said Gayle playfully. He smiled at her the same way she had before the match. Gia growled, determined to land at least one blow on her student if it's the last thing she does.

"Dragon Claw!" ordered Cynthia, and Gia rushed in with her claw glowing once again.

"Dodge, then get behind her and use Shadow Claw!" countered Ash. Gayle leaned back to avoid Gia's claw, then swiped at her with his own.

"Sidestep left, then use Brick Break!" screamed Cynthia. Gia dodged Gayle's Shadow Claw, then smashed him over the head with her Brick Break, which caused him to drop to one knee. Finally, she landed a hit! But her feeling of triumph quickly vanished when she saw the smirk on Gayle's face. Her eyes widened in shock. She'd fallen into one of his traps- again!

"Garchomp, Dragon Rush! End this!" roared Ash. Gayle surrounded himself with purple draconic energy and shot upwards into Gia like a rocket, sending her flying into a tree once more.

"Garchomp!" cried Cynthia, worried that her starter was down for the count. She breathed a sigh of relief when Gia slowly managed to get back on her feet. However, her relief was short lived when she noticed how heavily she was panting. 'One more attack and Garchomp's done for. I didn't want to do this, but there's no other choice. Time to unleash our secret weapon!'

Cynthia gave Ash the sweetest smile she could before calling out her next move. "Attract!" Gia winked and little pink hearts were sent hurtling at Gayle.

"Garchomp, get out of there, now!" screamed Ash, sounding concerned for the first time that match. If Attract hit and caused Garchomp to became infatuated, the match would be over. But he was too late, the attack had already reached its target.

Cynthia's sweet smile morphed into a smirk. "Now use Giga Impact!" Gia wrapped herself in purple and white energy, tucked in her arms, and flew towards Gayle like a rocket.

"Garchomp!" cried Ash, worried for his friend.

But he had nothing to fear. Right before the attack hit, Gayle stepped to the side, spun around, and countered with a Dragon Claw to Gia's back. The added momentum sent her flying into a tree for the fourth and most painful time that match. Not letting up however, he rushed in with another Dragon Claw, did a backflip, and fired one last Dragon Pulse."

This time however, Gia did not rise. When the smoke finally cleared, it revealed her sprawled out on her stomach with swirls in her eyes.

"Cynthia's Garchomp is unable to battle which means the victory goes to Ash's Garchomp," announced Delia, raising her hand on Ash's side.

"Garchomp, just, wow!" exclaimed Ash, awed by his pokemon's display.

Gayle ignored them and walked up to his former master, worry in his eyes. "You ok, Gia? Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you so badly. I think I overdid it with that last Dragon Pulse," he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck with one claw, and offering her the other.

Gia smiled as she took Gayle's claw and used it to help herself stand back up. "Don't worry Gayle, I'm fine, I've faced worse. But more importantly, congratulations! You were amazing!" She pulled Gayle a hug, which he awkwardly returned. "You've grown into quite the Garchomp, little Gibby," she whispered into his ear. Garchomp blushed and turned his head to the side, a reaction that Gia thought was adorable. They broke away from the hug, but stayed staring into each other's eyes.

"Garchomp, how did you do that? She hit you with attract, how were you still able to use all those moves?" asked Ash, confused.

Gayle smiled and wrapped his claw around Gia's waist, causing her to blush slightly, then turned to face his trainer. "Oh please Ash, I'm already head over heels in love with this girl, do you really think something like Attract will affect me at all?" Ash stared at Garchomp in awe.

"Hey buddy, you do realize what you just said, right?" asked Pikachu with a devilish smile on his face.

"What do you- OH CRAP!" screamed Gayle. He turned to look at the dragoness he had wrapped his claw around, who had taken a sudden interest in the grass and was staring resolutely at it with a blush on her face that put Cynthia's to shame.

'Like trainer, like pokemon,' thought Pikachu with an evil grin. The little mouse couldn't wait to tell the others, they were going to have so much fun teasing the stuffing out of him!

"Gia, I-I-um, well I just, um, you know," stated the nervous wreck. Gia put her fin up to Gayle's lips to stop him and looked into his eyes.

"Gayle?" she said softly.

"Uh, y-yes, Gia?" he replied nervously. Gia smiled before saying six words that would change his life forever.

"I want to be your mate," she said shyly. Gayle's jaw dropped.

"S-Sorry, I think I may have misheard you there, what did you say?" Gia smiled sweetly and looked at him dead in the eyes.

"I want to be your mate Gayle. I have never once lost a battle to another member of our species before, even as a Gible, until now. You are the first of our species to defeat me in battle and therefore, you are the only one I will ever want as my mate."

Gayle was shocked. "But what if someone else manages to beat you?" he blurted out before he could stop himself.

Gia gave him a look.

"Right, sorry, stupid question," he said.

Gia smiled. "So what do you say Gayle? Will you do me the honor of being my mate?"

Gayle laughed and pulled Gia in closer. "Of course I will Gia; I love you."

"Gayle," she whispered, smiling. She nodded, wrapped her arms around him, and buried her face in his chest. "I love you too."

Ash observed the scene between the two dragons with a happy smile on his face, glad that it all worked out for them. Cynthia was crying tears of joy that her starter finally found love. Even Pikachu was getting a little teary-eyed, despite his usual devilish behavior. Not wanting to disappoint however, he turned to Ash and said, "Like trainer, like pokemon, eh Ash? I'm willing to bet an entire year's supply of Ketchup that if you told Cynthia you loved her right now, she'd agree to be your mate too."

"Pikachu!" exclaimed Ash mortified. Fortunately, Cynthia didn't hear them, she was too busy gazing misty-eyed at the two Garchomps in front of her, lost in her own little world.

'I'm so happy for her. She deserves to be with Ash's Garchomp. Those two makes such a cute couple.' Cynthia thought. She turned to look at Ash, who noticed her looking at him and smiled. She smiled back. 'I wonder if Ash loves me like that. Wait, Ash? Why did I just think that?!' She turned to stare at the two Garchomps with a confused expression on her face.

"Well Cynth, as heartwarming as this is, our match is still going on," said Ash as he pulled another pokeball out from his belt. "Let's leave the two lovedragons alone for now, ok? It's time for round two!"

That managed to snap Cynthia out of her stupor. "Wha- oh, right, the match!" She grinned at Ash. "I won't lose this round Ketchum!" she teased.

"Hehe, we'll see about that," he replied. "Come on out, Lucario!" He threw the pokeball into the air and his Lucario emerged in a flash of white light.

Cynthia smiled. She knew what he wanted. It was time for another heartfelt moment. "You're baby boy has come to see you," she whispered to the pokeball in her hand. She threw the pokeball into the air. "Come on out, Lucario!"

**I promised an epic battle last chapter so I hope it turned out alright. Another two battles coming out next chapter, both mother vs. child battles. Also what should Ash's eevee evolve into? I'm leaving it up to you guys. That's all for now, I don't know when I'll update next because I don't have anything written out yet, but considering how popular this has gotten in just one day, I'll try to make it as fast as I can. See you guys next week, and thank you all so much!**


	6. Chapter 5

**Oh my Arceus you guys! This story hasn't even been out for a week and I'm already getting so many likes and reviews! Thank you guys soooo much! It means a lot to me.**

**I'll save my rant for after the chapter though, because I know you guys have been waiting for this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: Did Pikachu lose to a beginner Snivy in Unova? Then I don't own pokemon.**

Chapter 5

Cynthia's Lucario emerged from her pokeball in a brilliant flash of white light. She surveyed the battlefield and looked for anything she might be able to use to her advantage, before she noticed who her opponent was. Her eyes widened in shock.

"Luca, is that you?" she asked.

Ash's Lucario (Luca) smiled. "It is indeed. It's good to see you again, mother," he said formally, bowing his head as a sign of respect.

"Oh, stop with the formalities Luca, and give your mother a hug!" said Cynthia's Lucario before rushing over to her son and giving him a bone crushing hug.

"Ow! Mom, stop, you're crushing me!" cried Luca, a small smile tugging at the edge of his mouth as he struggled to escape his mother's hug of death. His mother let go of him, then sized him up and smiled.

"I can't believe how much my little boy has grown!" she exclaimed. "The last time I saw you, you were still just a little Riolu. Now you're a Lucario! I'm just so proud of you Luca! You've grown up so much!"

Luca smiled and scratched the back of his head with his paw out of embarrassment from his mother's praise. "Well thanks mom," he said happily. "But the credit goes to my master. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't be half the pokemon I am today."

Cynthia's Lucario raised an eyebrow at her son, then turned to Ash. She smiled and said, "In that case, thank you Ash. It does my heart good to know my son has such a kind trainer. I really do appreciate all that you've done for my little Luca. It means more to me than you know."

Luca's face flushed. "Mom! I'm not little anymore! I'm taller than you now!" he exclaimed indignantly.

Ash laughed. "You're welcome ma'am," he said, tipping his cap in respect. "But it's Lucario here who deserves the credit. He's the one who put in all the effort to get stronger, not me. All I did was merely point him in the right direction." Luca scratched the back of his head embarrassed again, but this time out from Ash's praise.

"Thank you for the kind words, master," Luca said with a grin.

Ash sighed. "Lucario, how many times-" he began.

"Have you asked me not to call you master?" interrupted Luca. "One more than last time master- whoops, make that two."

Ash facepalmed, while Cynthia's Lucario merely smiled. "You'll have to forgive him Ash, it's a genetic problem. Isn't that right, mistress?" she said as she turned to her trainer. Cynthia groaned and Ash looked horrified, while Luca fell to the ground from laughing too hard.

Cynthia sighed. She should've expected this. "If you two are done with the mother-son reunion," she said. "We were in the middle of a battle, right Ash?"

This brought Ash out of his moment of self-pity. He had been silently crying to himself, now that he knew Lucario's bad habit would never change. However, at the mention of the battle, he cheered up. "Oh yeah, that's right!" he said excitedly. "Lucario, ready to show your mother just how strong you've become?"

"You bet I am!" exclaimed Luca proudly. "I'm just letting you know mom, the two of us will not hold back! We're coming at you with everything we've got, and I'll show you firsthand how much stronger I've become!" He slapped a paw to his chest, determined to prove his strength to his mother.

"Of course!" she replied. "I would expect nothing less Luca, and I will do the same. Remember what I taught you about a Lucario's pride? Holding nothing back is the ultimate sign of respect for your opponent."

"I know mom, and I'm ready to battle. Let's do this!" he cried. He turned to Ash with a fierce, battle-ready expression on his face.

Ash grinned and nodded to Lucario, then turned to Cynthia. "You ready, Cynth?"

"You bet Ash! And I won't lose this time!" she replied. Ash and Lucario grinned from ear to ear, looked into each other's eyes, and nodded simultaneously. A feral grin appeared on both their faces in anticipation of the battle. They had no doubts that this would be an awesome fight.

"Round two, Lucario vs. Lucario, begin!" cried Delia, officially starting the match.

"Lucario, be careful! Ash has gotten a lot more powerful since the last time we saw him. We already lost round one," Cynthia warned her Lucario, gesturing to the two Garchomps snuggled up against a tree.

Cynthia's Lucario was surprised to hear her mistress had lost the first round, but at the sight of the two Garchomps snuggled up against a tree, she smiled. "Well, it's about time!" she exclaimed. Her trainer laughed.

"Ash, the first move goes to you this time," said Cynthia, extending her hand in an 'after you' gesture.

Ash nodded. "Right! Lucario, let's show your mother and Cynthia just how strong you really are! Use Aura Sphere!" he cried. Luca growled then launched a large blue ball of aura at his mother.

"Use Bone Rush to deflect it!" ordered Cynthia. Her Lucario grunted in affirmation and clenched her paws together. A long blue staff, in the shape of a bone was formed in her hands out of pure aura. She twirled it in front of her so fast that it stopped the Aura Sphere in its tracks and it dissolved into nothingness.

"Don't let up Lucario!" said Ash. "Use Extreme Speed to get in close, then Metal Claw!" Luca nodded then disappeared. He reappeared in front of his mother only seconds later, and slashed down with his Metal Claw.

"Lucario, use Circle Throw!" countered Cynthia. And not a moment too soon. As Luca slashed down, his mother sidestepped the attack, then ducked under and grabbed him from below. Using the momentum of Luca's Metal Claw against him, she chucked him into a tree- hard.

"Lucario, are you alright?" asked Ash, as Luca slowly stood back up. Luca growled to show he was fine, then got back into a battle position and awaited his master's next command.

"Lucario, use Flash Cannon!" ordered Cynthia. Her Lucario quickly charged and fired a gray beam of energy at her son.

"Lucario, rip through it with Metal Claw! Then switch into Blaze Kick!" countered Ash. Luca growled and tore through the beam with a slash of his glowing paw, then he wrapped his leg in flames and kicked his mother- hard.

"Lucario, are you ok?" cried Cynthia. Lucario waved her off and stood back up.

"Luca! Did you learn that move from your father?" she asked her son.

"Yeah, I actually met up with dad and his trainer while we were traveling," Luca answered, smiling. "I was still a Riolu at the time and he had me cornered during a practice battle . Out of options, I ended up instinctively using Blaze Kick. Everyone was rather surprised to say the least." Luca chuckled before continuing. "After the battle, I got to spend a lot of time with him and he helped me master Blaze Kick before leaving with his trainer. Oh yeah, before I forget, he gave me a message for you in case I ever bumped into you again."

Luca's mother smiled. "Oh? And what did your father tell you to say?"

Luca scratched the back of his head with his paw and looked away from his mother, embarrassed. "He told me to tell you that he loves you, he misses you, and that he thinks about you every day."

Cynthia's Lucario's eyes widened, and she felt her eyes water due to her mate's unexpected thoughtfulness. "That's very sweet of him, although it's rather difficult to imagine your father thinking about something other than battling."

Luca laughed. "Yeah, I know what you mean," he said, amused. "Shall we get back to the battle now?"

Cynthia's Lucario wiped her eyes with her paw before nodding to her son. Then she turned to her trainer. "Sorry about that mistress, shall we continue?" she asked.

Cynthia sighed. Unlike Ash, she had long since given up trying to get her Lucario to call her by her name, and had merely resigned herself to her fate. "Yeah, let's continue," she said. "You ready Ash?" The raven-haired trainer nodded. "Alright then, let's get things started again with an Aura Sphere, and make it big one!"

"Lucario, you match her with your own giant Aura Sphere," he said calmly. The two spheres of blue Aura collided with each other in mid-air and exploded, sending dust all around the battlefield, making it impossible to see.

"Lucario, use your aura sight and move in with a Drain Punch!" ordered Ash. Luca closed his eyes and allowed the flow of Aura to surround him, allowing him to 'see' despite the dust in his eyes.

"Lucario, try and dodge it!" cried Cynthia, but she knew it would be pointless. Her Lucario wasn't as skilled in using aura like her son was; all she could do with it was Aura Sphere and Bone Rush. Ash and his Lucario on the other hand, had a multitude of aura tricks at their disposal. Sure enough, his Lucario emerged behind hers, his eyes glowing blue, and hit hers with a Drain Punch. The force of the blow slammed her to the ground, causing her to cry out in pain. And to make matters worse, his Lucario gained back some energy due to the energy siphoning effects of the move.

"Way to go Lucario," praised Ash. "Now use Bulk Up." Luca flexed and bulged his muscles. He was surrounded in red energy as his attack strength and physical defenses were given a temporary increase.

'Going for the power boost, eh?' thought Cynthia. 'Well two can play at that game.' "Lucario, use Calm Mind," she ordered. Her Lucario stood back up and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath and was surrounded in a red energy that boosted the power of her special attacks and her special defense. "Time to take the offensive! Rapid fire Aura Sphere!" Her Lucario growled and unleashed a massive barrage of blue spheres of aura at her son.

"Use Extreme Speed to dodge them all then get in close again. But this time, use Close Combat!" ordered Ash. Luca quickly sped towards his mother, dodging all the Aura Spheres in an impressive display of speed and grace. He stopped directly in front of his mother and was about to throw his first punch when he saw a charged up Aura Sphere aimed at his chest. His eyes widened as he realized his mistake. His mother smiled.

"Not this time, sweetie!" she said as she launched the sphere. Unable to dodge at point blank range, Luca was sent flying as the supereffective move caused him massive damage.

"Lucario!" cried Ash. However, his fears were groundless. Luca stood right back up, and dusted himself off.

"I'm fine master; I've taken harder hits than that when sparring with you," joked Luca. He got back into a battle stance. "This battle is far from over."

Ash smiled. "In that case, use Metal Sound, then go in for a Force Palm." Lucario touched the metal spikes on his claws together which produced a deafening sound ten times worse than scratching on a chalkboard. Then he rushed in towards his mother- who was still covering her ears from the noise- and shoved his palm into her, sending his mother flying and paralyzing her due to the secondary effects of the move.

"Lucario, stay strong," encouraged Cynthia, as her Lucario struggled to stand back up. Cynthia's mind raced as she tried to think of a way to turn things back in her favor.

"Don't let up! Use Close Combat!" ordered Ash, not wanting to give her the time she needed.

"Lucario, you do the same!" cried Cynthia, hoping that the many years of experience in hand to hand combat that her Lucario had over her son would give her the two Lucarios rushed in and engaged in a fistfight. Luca started with a right hook, but his mother ducked the blow and lunged in with an uppercut. He leaned back slightly to dodge then attempted to knee his mother in the gut with a High Jump Kick, but she blocked it with her paw. Luca did a backflip to evade his mother's counterattack and kicked out in the process. His mother blocked the kick by crossing her arms, but the force of the blow still sent her sliding a few feet back. The two Lucarios exchanged a look before they both charged in at the same time with a punch. Both punches connected with the other's jaw simultaneously, and the two Lucarios were each sent tumbling back. They both stood back up and awaited their respective trainers' next orders. Despite their heavy panting and multiple bruises, neither side ready to back down.

"Lucario, Aura Sphere!" Cynthia shouted, and her Lucario launched another ball of blue Aura at her son.

Ash smirked. "Time for our secret weapon," he cried. "Lucario, Dragon Pulse!" Luca nodded then fired a beam of draconic energy which tore through the Aura Sphere and continued towards his mother, knocking her to the ground.

"What?!" screamed Cynthia. "How does he know Dragon Pulse?!"

Ash smiled. "Now finish this with Aura Sphere!" Luca roared and launched a sphere of blue aura at his mother.

"Lucario, dodge it!" she cried in desperation. But it was too late. Her Lucario was still winded from the Dragon Pulse, and the Aura Sphere collided with her, dead center. When the smoke cleared, she was knocked her out with swirls in her eyes.

"No, Lucario!" Cynthia cried.

"Cynthia's Lucario is unable to battle. The winner of this round is Ash's Lucario!" declared Delia, once again raising her hand towards her son's side.

"Mom, are you alright?" asked Luca, worried. He rushed over to help his mother.

"Don't worry Luca, I'm fine," she said as she stood back up. "Although I have to say that last Aura Sphere of yours packed quite a punch. You certainly have gotten much stronger kiddo." She smiled at her son and cupped his face in her paw. He smiled back at her before she continued. "But this is only the beginning, Luca. You can get even stronger than you are now; just make sure to never give up and you can accomplish anything. I know Ash is planning on entering that tournament to decide the Kanto Champion. Make sure he wins, ok? Nobody deserves it more than he does."

Luca nodded. "I will mother, and I promise I'll make you proud," he declared, his tail wagging happily behind him. His mother smiled.

"You already have."

His eyes started to water. "I love you, mom," he said as he pulled her into a giant embrace. His mother's smile widened as she returned the hug.

"I love you too," she replied. "Now go, your 'master' is waiting for you," she said with a mischievous smile. Luca grinned, gave her a peck on the cheek, and turned to go to Ash. As he ran back, his mother called out, "And if you see your father again, tell that big lug of a Blaziken that I love him, and miss him more!"

"I will mom, I promise!" said Luca, waving his paw goodbye before he turned around to face his trainer.

"Great battle Lucario! You showed your mother just how strong you really are!" said Ash proudly, ruffling the fur at the top of Lucario's head in a big-brotherly sort of way.

"Thanks Ash," he replied, happy with the praise. Ash abruptly stopped and his eyes widened in shock. He pointed his finger at him and let out a high-pitched squeal of delight. "Is something wrong, Ash?" he asked, concerned for his trainer's mental health.

Ash squealed again before explaining. "You did it again! You called me Ash instead of master! Oh my Arceus! I'm so happy right now! Finally! Finally!" He whooped and started to do a happy dance.

Lucario froze as he internally berated himself for the slip up. He quickly recovered though, and knelt on the ground with his head bowed down- the same pose one would adopt before being knighted by a king. "I apologize for the slip up master. I was in a very emotional state then, but I assure you it will not happen again. I am willing to accept whatever punishment you see fit," he said seriously, creating a Bone Rush staff and presenting it to Ash like a sword.

Ash collapsed to his knees as all the joy he'd felt from Lucario's breakthrough instantly went down the drain. He held up a pokeball. "Return," he said dully, as a bright red light enveloped Lucario and returned him to the ball.

Meanwhile, a sad smile crept on to the face of Lucario's mother as she watched the exchange between Ash and her son. 'I'm so proud of my little Luca; he's grown up so much! It's odd though; I'm happy for him and all, but it saddens me to think that he no longer needs me. Oh well, I guess that's just part of being a mother,' she thought with a sigh, before she turned around and nodded to the pokeball in her trainer's hand.

"Return," said Cynthia, as she pointed the ball at her pokemon. A bright red light enveloped her Lucario and returned her to the pokeball. "You must be very proud of your son, he's come a long way, hasn't he?" she whispered to the pokeball. The ball shook in response.

"Well Cynth, what do you think of the battle so far? Me and my pokemon have gotten a lot stronger haven't we?"

"It's 'my pokemon and I' Ash," corrected Delia, causing Ash to face-palm.

Cynthia laughed. "Your bad grammar aside…" She glanced at Delia and grinned. "I have to admit, I'm impressed. I'm being totally outclassed; you've had me at nearly every turn. It's possible that I just got lazy ever since you left, but you've definitely improved, mister, that's for sure."

Ash grinned. "Thanks Cynth, that means a lot to me. Now, shall we finish the match?" he asked.

She smiled. "You bet Ash! Time for round three! And I won't lose this time!" she declared.

"Bring it Cynth!" said Ash "But first, it's time for one last parent-child reunion! Come on out, Eevee!" cried Ash as he threw a pokeball into the air, releasing Eevee in a brilliant flash of white light.

**Alright, that's chapter 5! Now, I know I said last time that I would have two battles in this chapter, but I only ended up writing one of them. I'm really sorry guys, but trust me the next chapter is going to be soooooo worth it. My editor gave me a great idea for the Eevee vs. Glaceon battle, and it's going to be sick!**

**I don't know how frequently I'll be able to update this story. Whenever I finish one chapter, I always want to start the next one right away, but I have other responsibilities in my life, and don't always get the chance. Not to mention the fact that I don't upload a new chapter until my editor has gone over the new chapter looking for mistakes, and he has his own life to manage as well. We will try to finish each new chapter as soon as possible though so just bear with me. Also, if you notice any mistakes in my stories- grammar, spelling, or otherwise- please PM me and let me know so I can edit it ASAP. Please don't be shy, I don't bite.**

**And lastly (for now anyways), I plan on starting a new story that begins Ash's journey from the start. It will be completely epic, but it will be some time before it gets started though because the chapters for that story will be much longer than the chapters for this one are. which means they take longer to write. However, in that interim, I would like to propose a challenge to you all. The thing is, I'm having trouble coming up with a name for my new story. So if you think of a good name for it, PM me or leave a review of this chapter. The one who comes up with the best name will be the winner. I will use that name for my new story and they will get a shout out in the next chapter of this story. Furthermore, they will get the satisfaction of winning. The deadline for this chapter is the end of February, so to all of you I say this: Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favor!**


	7. Chapter 6

**Hey guys!**

**So my editor didn't have time to look this chapter over, so if there are a lot of grammar mistakes and the like, I'm really sorry. If you catch any mistakes, please PM me so I can fix them. Thank you.**

**The rest of my rant will be at the bottom of the chapter, so enjoy this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: Does Ash have a girlfriend? Then I don't own pokemon.**

Chapter 6

"Hi Daddy!" Eevee chirped once she had emerged from her pokeball. She wagged her tail, ran over to Ash, and nuzzled his leg affectionately.

"Hey, how's my little girl doing today?" He knelt down and scratched Eevee behind her ear. She smiled and purred happily, her tail wagging even faster.

"I'm doing great!" she answered cheerfully. Suddenly, he stopped petting her and she quit wagging her tail. She looked into his eyes with an innocent expression on her face. "Is something wrong daddy?"

He smiled. "You ready for a battle, girl?"

"A battle?! Me?!" she asked in disbelief. Her face immediately lit up and she resumed her tail wagging.

"Yep, but first, there's somebody here to see you," he replied.

"Who is it?" she asked excitedly, turning her head from side to side. It was then that she noticed Cynthia standing across the field. She frowned, confused. "Daddy, who's that?"

He smiled and his eyes glinted slightly. "Do you remember what I told you about your mommy and Miss Cynthia?" he asked, as if he were giving her a hint.

"Yeah, but what does…" Eevee frowned, struggling to connect the dots, before her face brightened in understanding. "Wait! Oh my Arceus! Daddy, is that Miss Cynthia?! Is my mommy here?! Am I finally going to meet her?!"

He nodded. "That's right." She let out a high-pitched squeal of joy and started running in circles around Ash.

"Hey Ash, is that Eevee from Glaceon's egg?" piped Cynthia, curious.

Ash managed to stop Eevee from running all over the place then started to pet her again. She cooed happily and he smiled. "Yep, this pretty little girl hatched about a month after we split. She's been dying to meet her mommy ever since I told her about the two of you," said Ash in a fatherly tone of voice, while Eevee vigorously bobbed her head up and down.

Cynthia smiled at the young pokemon. "Well, I wouldn't want to keep her waiting. Glaceon, battle dance!" she cried, as she tossed Glaceon's pokeball into the air, releasing her in a flash of white light.

Glaceon landed and- just as Lucario did before her- immediately surveyed the battlefield for anything that might give her an edge, before her gaze rested on the young Eevee in front of her. She felt like she knew this Eevee from somewhere, she just couldn't remember how. "You look very familiar, little one. Have we-"

"Mommy!" interrupted Eevee, as she ran up to Glaceon and nuzzled her side affectionately.

"M-mommy?!" repeated Glaceon, confused. "Hang on- does that mean?"

"Yep!" said Eevee happily, nodding her head.

"Y-you're my daughter, Eva? You finally hatched?" Glaceon asked, eyes widened in awe.

Eevee nodded. "Uh-huh," she said happily. Suddenly, it became too much for her to handle. She started to cry tears of joy and buried her face in her mother's fur. "I'm so happy! I finally get to meet you, mommy!"

"Eva!" Glaceon cried, wrapping her two teal dangles around her daughter. "Oh dear Arceus, Eva, you hatched! I'm so happy right now! And so proud! Come Eva, we have so much to talk about," she said offering her dangle to her daughter.

Eva's smile faltered and she looked down at her feet. "But mommy, daddy says I have a battle now," she said quietly.

"Right, the battle, I almost forg- wait, daddy?" she said, surprised. She jerked her head up, and turned from side to side, searching for her mate.

"Well, he's not really my daddy," Eva explained. "But he's my trainer, and the one who hatched me, so I call him that." She gestured to Ash, and a small blush crept on to the young pokemon's face.

"I see," said Glaceon softly. She walked over to him and smiled. "Hello again, Ash."

"Hey Glaceon, long time no see," he replied, rubbing the back of his neck.

She nodded. "It has been a while, hasn't it? Although to me, it feels like it was only yesterday when Lady Cynthia and I gave you Eva's egg," she said wistfully. She smiled for a moment then adopted a more serious tone and continued talking. "From the bottom of my heart, I thank you, Ash, for taking care of my daughter." She extended her front paw in front of her and bowed her head.

"No need to thank me, Glaceon! I was happy to take care of her for you," he said embarrassedly, rubbing the back of his neck again. He looked away from Glaceon and turned his gaze towards Eevee and smiled at her. Eevee smiled back, and once again started wagging her tail.

"Nevertheless Ash, I thank you," she said formally. She bowed again. "I hope she didn't give you too much trouble," she teased.

"Mommy!" cried her daughter, indignant.

"I'm just kidding dear," she said fondly, petting her daughter's head with one of her dangles. Eva made a pouty face and Ash gave her a sympathetic smile. Glaceon chuckled at her daughter's reaction before looking Ash in the eye. "However, I do have a request to make of you," she said pleadingly.

"Sure, no problem. What do you need?" he said with a smile.

Glaceon loosened up and smiled back. "Would you and Lady Cynthia use different pokemon for the final round of this battle? I wish to spend some time getting to know my daughter, and I'd prefer not to do that in battle, especially since this is my first time meeting her since she hatched."

A flash of surprise appeared on Ash's face, but it vanished as quickly as it came and was replaced with a warm smile. "Of course Glaceon, I completely understand. I don't have a problem with it; Cynthia, what about you?" Glaceon turned to face her trainer and gave her the biggest puppy dog eyes she could muster.

Cynthia smiled. "Glaceon, you know I can't resist that face," she said playfully. "But I would've said yes either way. Go spend some time with your daughter, just make sure you don't disturb the two love-dragons," she said, giggling as she pointed at the two Garchomps snuggling against a tree.

Glaceon grinned at the sight of the two dragons. "She is never hearing the end of this," she blurted out before she could stop herself. Cynthia laughed, and Glaceon turned back to face her. "Thank you very much mistress; I greatly appreciate it."

Cynthia sighed. "You've been spending way too much time with Lucario; I told you to call me Cynthia, not mistress," she said, exasperated. Glaceon smirked in response. "Whatever, just go have fun with your daughter, ok?"

Glaceon nuzzled her trainer's leg. "Thank you, Cynthia," she said softly.

Cynthia smiled. "You're welcome, Glaceon."

Glaceon smiled appreciatively, then turned to her daughter. "Eva, what do you say to Ash and Miss Cynthia?"

"Thank you Daddy! Thank you Miss Cynthia!" said Eevee, bowing to each trainer the same way her mother had.

"You're welcome," said Cynthia, smiling.

"Have fun with your mother, Eevee," said Ash.

She nodded. "I will!"

"Good girl," said Glaceon. "Now come on Eva, we have a lot of catching up to do." She nuzzled her daughter affectionately before offering one of her dangles.

"Coming mommy!" Eva chirped. She grabbed the dangle with her ear and followed her mother behind a tree. (A/N: think of the ear/dangle thing like a human mother holding her daughter's hand)

"Don't go too far, you two!" cried Cynthia, as the mother-daughter combo exited the field.

"Well Cynth, shall we continue the match, or do you want to call it here since I'm obviously going to win?" teased Ash.

Cynthia winked at him. "Nice try, but if you think I'm going to let you go without beating you at least once, Ashy-boy, then you clearly don't know me very well," she said cutely, flashing him a dazzling smile. That caught Ash completely off guard; he tried opening his mouth, but no sound came out. "Something wrong Ashy-boy?" she asked innocently.

"I-I, um, we-we should call out our next smiles- uh, I mean pokemon!" Ash fumbled out. He stared at the ground, blushing furiously.

Cynthia smirked, grabbed a pokeball from her waist, and enlarged it. She threw it into the air and released her Spiritomb in a flash of white light. "Round three, take two!"

Seeing the new pokemon managed to snap Ash out of his daze. "Spiritomb, huh?" He turned to the yellow mouse on his shoulder. "You ready buddy? Pikachu, I choose you!" he cried, extending his arm as Pikachu gave a battle cry and leapt off his shoulder. His cheeks sparked in anticipation of the fight.

"Round three, Spiritomb vs. Pikachu, begin!" cried Delia.

"Good to see you again, Pikachu. I hope you've been doing well," said Spiritomb.

"It's good to see you too Spiritomb, but we can catch up later," said Pikachu. He smiled sadistically. "First, we fight!"

"Let's see if you've gotten any stronger since last we met," challenged Spiritomb.

Pikachu's sadistic smile grew larger. "You have no idea."

"We'll see about that," replied Spiritomb skeptically. "Hold nothing back."

"And the same to you," replied Pikachu.

"Spiritomb, start things off with Ominous Wind!" shouted Cynthia. Spiritomb let out an eerie purple wind that surrounded the battlefield.

"Pikachu, counter with Discharge!" ordered Ash.

"Have some electricity, you son of a mightyena!" screamed Pikachu as he let out a blast of electricity in all directions that tore through the Ominous Wind and connected with Spiritomb, sending electricity pulsing through the forbidden pokemon's body. He pumped his fist in the air. "Oh yeah!"

"Don't get cocky just yet, you little rat," snarled Spiritomb.

"I'm not a rat, I'm a mouse!" screamed Pikachu, indignant.

"Calm down buddy, he's just trying to rile you up. Don't let him get to you," said Ash. Pikachu took a deep breath and calmed down.

"Thanks Ash."

"Anytime." He grinned. "Now use Agility into a Volt Tackle!"

"On it!" said Pikachu as he dashed towards Spiritomb like a bolt of lightning while shrouding himself in electricity.

"Spiritomb, use Sucker Punch!" countered Cynthia.

"Oh crap!" was all Pikachu had time to say before a fist of dark energy crashed into him, disrupting his charge and bouncing him across the field.

"Stay strong, and use Thunderbolt!" cried Ash. Pikachu put his paw to the ground and skidded to a halt before letting out a huge arc of electricity at Spiritomb.

"Take this!" he screamed. The attack struck home, and for the second time that match, Spiritomb felt electricity coursing through him.

"Gaaahhhhh!" he cried out in pain.

"Spiritomb, are you ok?" Cynthia asked, worried. Spiritomb nodded, and Cynthia gave a sigh of relief. 'I've got to shut Pikachu down, but how?' she thought. Suddenly a flash of inspiration struck. 'That's it!'

"Spiritomb, use Torment!" she ordered.

"Come on Pikachu! Is that the best you can do?!" teased Spiritomb. "I barely even felt that; I guess you haven't gotten any stronger at all, have you? You're so pathetic!"

"Why you little," hissed Pikachu, seething with rage. Nobody mocked his power like that!

"Now, use Hypnosis, quick!" ordered Cynthia.

"Pikachu, counter shield, now!" shouted Ash. Pikachu began to spin, but no electricity came out.

"Ash, I can't use Thunderbolt twice in a row because of that torment, and without Thunderbolt I can't use the counter shield!" said Pikachu hysterically.

"What?!" Suddenly, the Hypnosis attack connected with Pikachu, and the little mouse slumped over, fast asleep. "No! Pikachu, wake up!"

"Perfect," said Cynthia. "Now while he's down, use Dream Eater!" A spectral form of Spiritomb left his body and flew towards Pikachu. The specter flew in and out of Pikachu's sleeping body then returned to Spiritomb, restoring some of his energy while at the same time dealing serious damage to Pikachu.

"Now use Dark Pulse!" ordered Cynthia. Spiritomb charged up a three ringed blast of dark energy, then fired it at the little mouse.

Unfortunately for Cynthia, she was so busy ordering Spiritomb to attack, she failed to notice that Ash had his eyes closed. He was using his aura to reach out to Pikachu in his sleep.

'Hey buddy, you there?' he asked once he was inside Pikachu's head.

'Ugh, Ash is that you?' asked Pikachu sleepily.

'Yeah, it's me buddy,' said Ash. 'Sorry for disturbing your nap, but unless you want to lose the battle, I suggest you wake up immediately!'

'Ow, ow, ow! Not so loud Ash! Wait, we're in the middle of a battle?' asked Pikachu, confused. 'Wait, that's right! We were in the middle of a battle, I couldn't use the counter shield, and got hit with Hypnosis! Damnit! It's been so long since that move actually hit me, I'd forgotten what it feels like!' Pikachu mentally facepalmed.

'Well then, what are you waiting for? Wake up buddy! We've got us a battle to win!' said Ash. 'And if you win, I'll get you a full bottle of ketchup for dinner,' he added as an afterthought before leaving Pikachu's mind.

"Pikachu, dodge and use Volt Tackle!" Ash ordered, his eyes snapping back open. Suddenly, Pikachu woke up. He sidestepped the Dark Pulse by mere inches, before he cloaked himself in electricity once again, and ran straight towards Spiritomb. This time the Volt Tackle hit its target, and Pikachu crashed into his opponent hard, sending him flying across the field.

"But how?!" asked Cynthia, completely dumbfounded.

Ash merely smiled. "Pikachu, Thunder!"

"Taste the thunder!" screamed Pikachu, as he released a huge bolt of electricity at Spiritomb, giving him his biggest shock yet.

"That, hurt!" panted Spiritomb once he'd recovered from the attack.

Pikachu gave him another sadistic smile. "Shocking, isn't it?" Spiritomb rolled his eyes and groaned.

"Don't let up Pikachu! Charge in with Quick Attack, then switch to Iron Tail!" ordered Ash.

"Spiritomb, use Sucker Punch!" countered Cynthia.

"Not this time! Jump and spin, buddy!"

"Let's do this!" screamed Pikachu, as he jumped into the air as high as he could to avoid the fist of dark energy. As he made his descent, he tucked in his body and spun, before his glowing tail connected with Spiritomb, using the extra force to slam him even harder into the ground.

"Spiritomb!" cried Cynthia, as Pikachu backflipped away.

"Guess that's all she wrote," said Ash, grinning from ear to ear.

"Not a chance!" said Spiritomb, as he slowly got back up.

"Spiritomb, are you ok?" asked Cynthia, worried.

"Still got some fight left in you?," taunted Pikachu.

Spiritomb nodded to his trainer and growled at Pikachu. "I'm fine. Now, let's finish this!"

"Alright, but don't push yourself too hard," she said. 'I need to find a way to end this quickly,' thought Cynthia. 'It's time to switch things up.' "Spiritomb, use Shadow Ball!" she cried.

"Pikachu, Electro Ball!" countered Ash. Pikachu leapt in the air and fired a ball of electricity from his tail, just as Spiritomb fired a sphere of dark energy from his mouth. The two orbs collided with each other mid-air and exploded, spreading dust and smoke all across the battlefield.

"Spiritomb, Dark Pulse!" ordered Cynthia once the smoke had cleared.

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" Spiritomb fired a beam of dark energy at Pikachu, while Pikachu let out an arc of electricity at Spiritomb. This time the two moves did not collide with each other and instead traveled on to connect with their intended targets, yet somehow still managed to spread dust all across the battlefield. This time, when the smoke cleared, it revealed both Spiritomb and Pikachu panting heavily, both awaiting their respective trainers' next orders.

"Spiritomb, we need to end this now! Rapid fire Shadow Ball!" cried Cynthia.

"This ends now!" bellowed Spiritomb, as he fired Shadow Ball after Shadow Ball at Pikachu.

Suddenly, a devilish idea struck Ash. He smiled evilly. "Pikachu, use Iron Tail and jump from Shadow Ball to Shadow Ball to get right in Spiritomb's face, then use Electro Ball, full power!" he screamed.

Pikachu realized what his trainer wanted him to do and he gave Spiritomb another sadistic grin, although he couldn't see this one because he was too busy firing Shadow Balls. 'This is going to be so much fun,' he thought, giddy in anticipation. "Let's do this!" he screamed, before his tail began to glow, and he charged head-on into the Shadow Ball barrage.

Cynthia's jaw dropped as Pikachu used his Iron Tail as a springboard to jump from one Shadow Ball to the next. The spheres exploded behind him in a shower of black sparks as he went from one to the next. In mere moments, all the Shadow Balls were destroyed, and Pikachu landed directly in front of Spiritomb, still with the same sadistic smile on his face. Before either could react, he launched a sphere of electricity from his tail at point blank range directly into Spiritomb's face, sending the forbidden pokemon flying backwards.

"NOW END THIS PIKACHU! THUNDER!" roared Ash.

"TIME FOR THE BIG FINALE!" screamed Pikachu as he let out the biggest blast of electricity that match. It completely fried Spiritomb and he collapsed to the ground with swirls in his eyes.

"SPIRITOMB, NO!" cried Cynthia, totally shell-shocked that Ash had beaten her without losing a single pokemon.

"Spiritomb is unable to battle; the winner is Pikachu!" announced Delia. "Which means that the winner of this 3 on 3 match is Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town! Way to go sweetie!"

"Yes! Pikachu, we did it!" cried Ash. "All those months of training really paid off. We finally managed to beat Cynthia! Yahoo!" He ran over to Pikachu, grabbed the yellow mouse's paws, and spun him around, before pulling him into a bone crushing hug.

"Easy Ash, that match took a lot out of me. I don't need you to pick up where Spiritomb left off," said Pikachu. He winced from the pain but grinned at Ash's enthusiasm.

"Hehe, sorry buddy," said Ash apologetically, before a goofy smile appeared on to his face. "But we won Pikachu, we finally won!"

Pikachu finally succumbed to his excitement. "Hell yeah we did! Did you expect anything less?" he asked cockily, a proud grin on his face.

"I guess not. You were amazing out there buddy; I'm so proud of you!"

"Thanks Ash; man, that was the best fight I've had since the Sinnoh League! We kicked some serious ass! But Ash, how the hell did you come up with that idea to use Iron Tail to scale the Shadow Balls?! That was pure genius!"

"Spiritomb, return," said Cynthia, returning her pokemon to his pokeball in a flash of red light. "You did great Spiritomb, I couldn't have asked for anything better; now get a good rest," she whispered to the pokeball before she walked up to Ash. "Pikachu's right Ash, that last trick you pulled was incredible! How on Earth did you come up with that?!"

Ash rubbed the back of his neck, slightly embarrassed. "Hehe- honestly, I don't know. It just sort of came to me," he said with a laugh.

Pikachu shook his head, exasperated, while Cynthia sighed and said, "Only you Ash."

She stared into his eyes for a moment before the two of them simultaneously burst into laughter. And once they started, they just couldn't stop. Pikachu sighed and climbed back up to his usual perch on Ash's shoulder and waited for the laughter to subside.

Eventually, it did. And when they finally managed to calm down, Cynthia wiped a tear from her eye, and gave Ash a giant hug. When she released him she said, "Congratulations Ash! You finally managed to beat me. I just can't believe how much stronger you've gotten since the Sinnoh League! It's just incredible!"

Ash's cheeks flushed from the praise, and he rubbed the back of his neck again. "Thanks Cynth, that means a lot to me," he whispered softly.

Cynthia flashed him another one of her dazzling smiles. "You're welcome, Ash."

Ash smiled at her. "So what's my reward Cynth?" he asked innocently.

"Reward?" asked Cynthia, confused.

"Yeah, my reward. I just beat the Sinnoh Champion, don't I get some kind a reward?" he asked in the same innocent tone.

"Umm sure, I guess," said Cynthia uneasily. "What did you have in mind?"

Ash grinned devilishly and grabbed her hand. "Well Cynth…."

**Alright, so that's the new chapter. I know I said there would be an Eevee vs. Glaceon battle this chapter, but I was halfway through writing it when I realized something. Eevee is barely two months old at this point, there's no way she could be battle ready so soon after hatching, especially not at Champion level. I will have a chapter where Eevee battles, it's just not this one. All things considered though, I think this is my favorite chapter so far (it's definitely the longest). I loved writing the battle scene for this chapter, I think it came out incredible. I plan on wrapping up the intro part hopefully within the next few chapters, although I'm not promising anything (I've learned my lesson about that).**

**As for my new story, the naming contest is still open. PM me with your idea and if I like it the best, I'll use it for the new story. If you want more info to go on, I'll try answering some questions on it, again just PM me, but I'm not answering anything that will give something away.**

**Lastly, please leave a review. You have no idea how much it means to me to hear back from you guys, so please leave a review.**

**That's all for now, take care you guys, see you next update!**


	8. Chapter 7

**Hey everybody! I'm back!**

**I'm so so sorry that I haven't uploaded in so long, but life kept getting in the way, and I just didn't have time to write more. But I'm back now with another new chapter, so R+R. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.**

Chapter 7

Ash grinned devilishly and grabbed her hand. "Well Cynth…."

He paused for dramatic effect.

'What's he going to ask from me?' thought Cynthia. Her eyes were telling her this was Ash, her best human friend in the world, but her mind kept reminding her that she hadn't seen him in three months. Just how much had he changed? She started getting very nervous. What was he going to say to her? What was he going to do to her? People can change a lot in three months. Was he going to confess to her? Kiss her? Do…that to her? 'I'm not ready for this!' she thought desperately. She closed her eyes and clenched her fists as Ash continued to stare at her, her overactive imagination kicking into overdrive.

"Will you marry me?"

"S-sorry?" Cynthia stammered, blushing furiously. Her heart started beating at five times its usual pace. She opened her eyes and looked up at Ash's face. But what she saw there was not a creepy evil grin, but a warm and caring smile that made her heart melt.

"I said 'I want some ice cream?' That's what I want for my reward, some ice cream." repeated Ash.

Cynthia's blush got even worse as she realized what Ash had really asked. "Y-you-you idiot!" stammered Cynthia in anger. "You could've asked me like a normal person! Why did you have to be so misleading about it?!" she screamed, trying to hide her embarrassment.

Ash scratched his head with a confused look on his face. "I'm not sure what I did that was so misleading Cynth," he said.

Cynthia gulped as she realized Ash was right. He hadn't been misleading at all; it was just her overactive imagination. "W-w-well y-you made it seem like you were going to ask me s-something," she responded lamely.

Ash looked even more confused. "What did you think I was going to ask you?" he inquired.

Somehow, Cynthia's blush got even redder. She turned her head to the side, determined not to make eye contact with him. "W-w-well I-I-I just, just, um...gahhhh! W-whatever, it doesn't matter, let's just go!" She twirled around and stormed away towards town, leaving a confused Ash behind her.

However, once Cynthia had her back to him, the look of confusion left Ash's face and he started walking more slowly to stay behind her. 'Haha, it worked!' he thought, grinning like a maniac. 'Man, I feel a little bad for Cynthia, but it's just so much fun to tease her, and she's the only girl I can tease like this without getting hit.' He sweat-dropped imagining how hard Misty would clonk him over the head with her mallet if he ever tried doing that to her. That was one of the many things he liked about Cynthia - she never hit him. 'And besides, Cynthia's blushing face is just so adorable, I can't help myself! Arceus, she's so cute I just want to eat her up!'

His evil grin disappeared and was replaced with a look of horror. 'Whoa, slow down there Ash! You do NOT want to turn into another Brock.' His look of horror disappeared and was replaced with a look of confused contemplation. 'Wait a minute, did I just call Cynthia 'cute'? Since when do I think about her like that? Ugh, I think Pikachu and the others are starting to get to me.' He sighed, shook his head, and pushed these thoughts aside. 'Whatever. Think about it later Ash, you've got some free ice cream waiting for you!' A look similar to that of a dog salivating in anticipation of its next meal appeared on his face. Suddenly, he realized they had walked past the ice cream vendor. "Hey Cynthia, wait up!" he called.

As Cynthia stormed away from Ash, she immediately began thinking about how she'd reacted to him. 'Ugh, why did I freak out like that?!' she internally screamed. 'I never get flustered like that! I'm supposed to be the calm, cool, and collected Champion of Sinnoh who never gets shaken by anyone or anything!' Then she sighed. 'Ash is the only person that can make me get all flustered like that, but why?! Why is it that I only get like this in front of him?! I don't get it! What's so special about him?!' Her gaze lingered upwards as she became lost in thought. 'Well he's smart, funny, really sweet, and he never gets mad at you no matter how badly you mess up. He's my best friend in the world and he's always there when I need him. And on top of that, he's also an incredible battler! If I'm being honest here, he's better than me. If he challenged me for my title, he'd probably win, and Sinnoh would have a new Champion.' She shuddered at the thought of Ash taking her title away, but she knew that he would never do something like that to her.

'Yet despite his incredible battling skills, he's so humble and always gives the credit to his pokemon instead. He's so kind and caring and he loves his pokemon and treats them like family.' She sighed softly as she started to think about Ash's other qualities. 'His deep black eyes are so full of kindness that I could just lose myself for hours just staring into them. And his smile - oh Arceus, I love his smile! Seeing his smile is enough to melt my heart and make all my worries just float away. Ash really is amazing. And he's really handsome too. He's definitely gained some muscle since I last saw him. I wonder if he has a six-pack?' Cynthia chewed on her lower lip, imagining what Ash's body might look like.

Suddenly, her face turned bright red as she realized what she was doing. She grabbed her cheeks and shook her head to try and clear her mind of her impure thoughts about Ash. 'No, no, no!' she mentally screamed at herself. 'Ash is your friend - your best friend - stop thinking about him like that!' She turned around to look at Ash, who was staring into space and petting Pikachu with a huge smile on his face. She stared at him, getting lost in his eyes. It took almost walking into a pole to get her out of her daze. Her face flushed and her heart started pounding twice as fast. She turned away and stared down at the floor. 'Why do I keep doing this every time I see Ash? Ugh, why does just saying his name make my heart race? Arceus, what is happening to me?! I just don't understand it! Are Garchomp and Mrs. Ketchum right about how I really feel towards Ash? Am I really in lo-'

"Hey Cynthia, wait up!" called Ash as he ran over to her, interrupting her train of thought. Quickly, she turned around.

"Y-yes Ash? W-what is it?" asked the blonde bundle of nerves.

"We just passed the ice cream vendor, I guess we were both just too caught in our daydreams, huh Cynth?" said Ash with a laugh.

"Y-yeah, I-I guess so," said Cynthia, awkwardly forcing out a small chuckle.

"Well come on, let's go!" said Ash. He grabbed Cynthia's hand and started running back to the ice cream vendor. But what Ash didn't notice was the massive flush that coated Cynthia's face as he held her hand. They walked up to the ice cream vendor: one boy drooling in anticipation of eating ice cream, and one girl blushing redder than a tomato.

"What can I get you two?" asked the ice cream man heartily, quickly noticing that the two were holding hands.

Ash turned to Cynthia with an eager smile on his face. "What flavor do you want Cynth?" Ash asked. "And remember, I won, so you have to pay for it," he added with a grin.

The thought of ice cream finally managed to shake Cynthia from her Ash-thoughts. She pressed her face to the glass case like a little kid and began contemplating which flavor to buy. "Should I get vanilla, or maybe chocolate?" she started ranting to herself. "Oh, but cookies and cream looks good too. And then there's mint, and strawberry. Oh, I just can't decide! Ooh, is that pumpkin flavor? That's a new one, maybe I should try that? Oh, but cookie dough looks good too! Maybe I should combine the flavors? But then again..." she stopped her rant when she felt Ash ruffling her hair. She looked up pouting and glared at him. She did not appreciate being interrupted when choosing her ice cream!

"Maybe I should choose for you Cynth? Otherwise we'll be here 'till next week!" joked Ash. The ice cream vendor laughed, while Cynthia tried to stay mad at Ash, but couldn't. When she saw the goofy smile on his face, all her anger just drained away. She nodded dumbly, staring into his eyes. Ash ruffled her hair again then looked at the vendor. "We'll have two vanilla cones please," he said, holding up two fingers.

The vendor gave them a warm smile. "Certainly sir, right away," he said. He smiled mischievously. "And you're in luck; today we're giving a special half-off discount for couples."

This managed to snap Cynthia back to reality. "W-w-we aren't a c-couple!" she stammered as her blush instantly returned to her face.

"Really?" asked the vendor innocently. "Could've fooled me." He smiled knowingly and nodded downwards, and Ash and Cynthia saw that they had been holding hands the whole time. The two immediately let go and blushed furiously while the vendor chuckled. He took out the ice cream cones and handed them to the young duo. "One for you sir, and one for your girlfriend," he said impishly, winking at Ash.

Ash rubbed the back of his head nervously. "She's not my girlfriend," said Ash awkwardly as he accepted the ice creams while Cynthia paid for them. "She's just a friend."

Cynthia froze as those words pierced her heart like a bullet. 'Just a friend, huh?' she thought.

The ice cream vendor laughed. "Whatever you say sir, whatever you say. Enjoy the rest of your date!" He winked at them then continued to chuckle as the two blushed and quickly walked away.

The two teens were sitting quietly at a park bench. Cynthia was licking her ice cream absentmindedly. Ash noticed she was being unusually quiet, but just attributed it the ice cream vendor's teasing. He looked up at the sky trying to think of something to talk about, and realized that the sun was starting to set.

"It's getting pretty late, huh Cynth?" said Ash conversationally.

Cynthia didn't respond. Ash frowned, but didn't press it, and instead took a bite of his ice cream. Surprisingly, despite the setting she was in, Cynthia wasn't enjoying her ice cream as much as she thought she would. In fact, she'd barely even finished a quarter of her favorite treat, while Ash had already finished more than half of his. She wished she could properly enjoy her ice cream, but the same four words kept replaying in her mind, preventing her from doing so.

"She's just a friend."

Cynthia was confused. She didn't understand why those words were bothering her so much, but they were! She stopped eating her ice cream cone and continued to stare at the ground.

Ash noticed Cynthia had stopped eating her ice cream and immediately knew something was wrong. 'Normally, Cynthia would have already finished off her ice cream by now, but she's barely even eaten a quarter of it!' he thought. 'I said I wanted to get ice cream with her because it's her favorite food. Did that ice cream vendor upset her that much with his stupid comments?' Ash frowned. "Hey Cynth, don't worry about what that ice cream vendor said. He's just being a pervy old man. Ignore him," he said with a smile.

Cynthia didn't respond and instead continued to stare at the ground. After a few minutes of awkward silence, she looked him in the eyes and finally spoke. "Ash, what am I to you?" she asked with barely more than a whisper.

Ash smiled brightly. "You're the best friend I've ever had," he answered without a moment's hesitation.

Cynthia frowned. Ash's smile was usually all it took to wash away her troubles, but this time it just wasn't working. "I see," she said crestfallen. She stood up from the bench with her back to Ash. "It's been a long day Ash; I'm going back to your house to get some sleep," she said without looking at him.

"But what about your ice cream?" asked Ash.

"Sorry, but I'm not in the mood for ice cream anymore," said Cynthia as she tossed the rest of her cone into the garbage bin and walked away, leaving a dumbfounded Ash sitting alone at the bench.

'OK, something's really bothering Cynthia,' thought Ash. 'She's always, and I mean always, in the mood for ice cream. If she doesn't want any, then something must really be bothering her. But what could it be? Is it really because of what that vendor said?' He entertained that possibility for a few moments, but it just didn't feel right to him. He couldn't come up with an alternative either. 'Maybe I should ask mom about it. After all, she's a girl too; maybe she could tell me what Cynthia is thinking. Arceus, why are girls so confusing?!' Ash rubbed his forehead in irritation and sighed. He finished his ice cream in three bites, licked his fingers, stood up, and started walking home to talk to his mother.

**So there's chapter 7. Chapter 8 is being edited and chapter 9 is being written, so hopefully I'll have those next two chapters uploaded within a week or two at most.**

**Nobody's voted on which eeveelution they want Ash to have, so that means either nobody cares and I'll just decide on my own, or I screwed up when setting up the poll and nobody is able to vote. If it is the second one, somebody please PM me so I can fix that ASAP.**

**Also, I've only gotten two suggestions for what I should name the other fic I'm working on. If anybody has a good idea, please let me know, otherwise, I'll just pick my own.**

**And lastly (for now), I've started beta-reading a story called "The Greatest There Was or Ever Will Be" by author Forever United Never We Fall. It is one of the absolute BEST Pokémon fanfics I've ever read and I highly recommend it to all of you. Trust me, it's completely worth it; you'll absolutely love the story, it's just that good.**

**Anyways, that's all for now. Please leave a review as any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all, and once again I'm really sorry for the long wait. The next two chapters should be uploaded a lot quicker. Bye! :)**


	9. Chapter 8

**Hey everybody! I just finished another new chapter! Told you it's be a fast update ;)**

**My editor told me I should wait until Sunday to add to the suspense, but I figured I've kept you waiting for over a month, you deserve it now. Anyways, R&amp;R and enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: Does Ash age? No? Then I don't own pokemon.**

Chapter 8

"Hey Mom, I'm back!" called Ash as he entered his house.

"Hi sweetie!" replied Delia with her usual smile. She removed her oven mitts, and set the timer on the stove.

"Mom, can I talk to you about something?" asked Ash, rubbing the back of his head as he walked into the kitchen.

Delia removed her apron, and looked at her son. "It's about Cynthia, isn't it?" she said with a slight frown.

Ash looked horrified. "How did you-"

"I saw her storming up to your room earlier, and she looked like she was about to cry," interrupted Delia. She looked at Ash with a stern expression. "I tried asking her what was wrong, but all she said was 'Ash is an idiot.' Care to explain what happened, dear?"

Ash sighed. "I wish I knew, but I'm not sure what I did wrong," he answered honestly, rubbing the back of his head again.

Delia sighed too. "I thought that might be the case," she replied. "I just put dinner in so it needs time to cook before it's ready. Let's go for a walk, sweetie. You can tell me everything that happened after you two finished your battle and left for ice cream. Pikachu, watch the food for me, ok?"

Pikachu jumped off of Ash's shoulder and gave Delia a salute. _"You got it, ma'am!"_

Delia smiled at Pikachu before returning her gaze to Ash. "Come on sweetie, let's go," she said kindly, putting on her coat and walking out the door with Ash trailing behind her.

* * *

"...And then she says 'Sorry, but I'm not in the mood for ice cream anymore,' and then she just walks away! I mean, what gives?! She's always in the mood for ice cream!" exclaimed Ash after explaining to his mother what had happened. They were sitting on the park bench where Ash and Cynthia had eaten (most of) their ice cream.

Delia sighed. Her son may have matured a lot since he started his journey, but he was still clueless when it came to girls. How could he still not see it?! "Well Ash, for all the flirting you did with Cynthia this morning, you're still as dense as a brick," said Delia.

"Mom!" exclaimed Ash. She was supposed to be on his side!

"Well I'm sorry sweetie, but it's the truth," replied Delia. "You really don't understand how Cynthia feels about you, do you?"

"What are you talking about, mom?" asked Ash confused.

"Ash, when did Cynthia first start getting upset? What did you say?" said Delia with a look on her face as if she were trying to hint at something.

Ash crossed his arms and thought hard. Finally he found an answer, although it wasn't one that made him any less confused. "When I said 'she's just a friend.'"

Delia smiled. Finally, her dense son was making progress. "Good. Now do you know why that got her so upset?"

"No. I mean, she is my best friend."

Delia sighed. Scratch that thing about Ash making progress. "Ash, is that really the way she feels about you, or is that just the way you feel about her?"

"What do you mean?" asked Ash.

"Ash, you see Cynthia as your best friend, correct?" asked Delia patiently.

"Yeah," said Ash, unsure where his mother was going with this.

"Okay, now how do you think Cynthia sees you?"

"She sees me as her best friend too, right?"

"Maybe...but then again, maybe not. Think about Cynthia's behavior Ash, how she acts around you. Do any of your other friends behave like that? What does Cynthia do that's different from the others?" She stared at her son, her eyes challenging him to connect the dots and figure it out.

"And while you're at it, think about this: do you really see Cynthia as just a friend? I know you care more about Cynthia than any of your other female friends; it's obvious from the way you talk to her. I mean, come on sweetie, you never tease Misty, May, Dawn, or any of you other female friends! Why do you think that is? What is it about Cynthia Shirona that is so special to you, and why? The 'why' is the key." Delia stepped back from her son and winked at him. "You can figure it out Ash. I know you've got brains inside that head of yours; how else do you manage to come up with all those amazing battle strategies? All you need to do with your brain to solve this problem is use it.

"But don't stay out too late. Dinner will be ready soon and I know you don't want to miss that." Delia turned around and started walking home, leaving her nonplussed son behind her.

After a few minutes, his mother was out of sight. This prompted Ash to lay spread-eagle on the ground and stare at the stars above. He loved stargazing; it was one of his favorite things to do.

"Arceus, the stars look beautiful tonight as usual. The way they're shining, it's just like Cynthia's smile, I never get tired of looking at it." He paused when he realized what he had just said.

"Cynthia."

That one word caused him to start thinking about what his mother had said. He frowned as he struggled to put the pieces together. Cynthia was very important to him and he didn't want her to be upset with him. 'But why would she be so upset? You'd think she'd be happy to be my best friend; what better compliment is there?' pondered Ash.

'What am I missing from this equation?'

'Remember what Pikachu and the others kept teasing you about?' said a voice in the back of his head. 'What if they were right?'

'No, Cynthia doesn't see me like that. We're just friends,' repeated Ash.

'Are you sure?' questioned the voice. 'Maybe she _does_ see you like that, and you just don't realize it. It's possible, you know. Think about it the way mom said: what makes Cynthia special? What does she do differently from your other friends?'

Ash now started to analyze Cynthia as if she were a pokemon battle, considering every possibility, everything he knew about her, from her cute little blushes to her deep love of ice cream in a desperate attempt to find the correct answer. Suddenly, a brainwave hit him like Pikachu's Thunderbolt. 'Well for starters, she gets flustered every time I tease her. None of the other girls I know do that, they just hit me.' He shuddered slightly. 'Cynthia is sweet and kind and understanding. Unlike Misty, she doesn't think I win my battles through sheer luck. Unlike May, she doesn't constantly nag about her problems and beg me to help her. Unlike Dawn, she isn't obsessed with dragging me shopping everywhere. Cynthia cares more about me and what I want than she does about herself. But why? Why does she care about me like that?'

'Maybe she likes you?' said the voice. 'Maybe she likes you more than just friends.'

"Hmm," said Ash, finally allowing that possibility to enter his mind. 'It would explain a lot actually, like why she gets so flustered around me. It's because she cares about me and wants what's best for me.'

'Good!' exclaimed the voice. 'But now the question becomes: how do you feel about her? Do you truly see her as 'just a friend' or do you see her as something more?'

Ash frowned, unsure of the answer. 'I don't know,' he finally admitted. 'I thought she was just my best friend…maybe, now I'm not so sure.'

He started thinking back on everything Cynthia had done for him the past year, all the time she'd spent with him, helping him and his pokemon get better and better, always remaining patient with him no matter how many times he failed, never putting him down, or saying he couldn't do it. She truly believed in him, and for that he was eternally thankful.

'That's what Cynthia means to you as a mentor, but she's not just your mentor, she's a girl. How do you feel about her as a girl?' asked the voice.

Ash frowned. 'I don't know; I've never thought about her like that before.'

'Well start now. What does the girl Cynthia Shirona mean to you?' said the voice.

'Hmm, well she's kind, sweet, and incredibly caring,' thought Ash. 'Whenever I see her, I feel all warm and fuzzy inside. If I'm feeling down, one smile from her is enough to cheer me up. I can never stay mad at her no matter what she does, she's just too cute! She smart, incredibly beautiful, and an amazing battler! It's almost as if-' He froze and his eyes widened in shock as a sudden realization crossed his mind. 'Wait a minute! This is the exact same stuff Gabite- er, Garchomp- used to say about Cynthia's Garchomp! But if Garchomp is in love with Cynthia's Garchomp ,and feels the same way about her that I feel about Cynthia, then does that mean I'm in love with Cynthia?'

He paused.

'Yes! Yes you are!' screamed the voice. 'Oh my Arceus! How did it take you so long to figure that out?! I was starting to think you never would!'

'Hey!' complained Ash. He sat up and rubbed the back of his head. 'Well whatever, now that I know that I'm in love with Cynthia I need to go back and apologize to her.' He stood up, but then froze again and his face turned paled. 'HOLY CRAP, I'M IN LOVE WITH CYNTHIA!' His heart started pounding five times its usual pace before he remembered his meditation training from Lucario, and started to slow down his breathing to calm himself down. 'OK, relax Ash, it's no big deal, it's just that you're in love with your best friend who is also in love with you; no problem, you can handle this.' His breathing became erratic again.

"NO I CAN'T!"

Suddenly, he stopped freaking out and started grinning when he reminded himself of a very important fact. 'Wait a minute, Cynthia is in love with me too! That means we're both freaking out about it! Ok, calm down Ash, you can do this!' He crossed his arms and closed his eyes, formulating a plan. 'I got it! OK, so first I'm going to go apologize to her. Then I'll proceed to tease the blondeness out of her hair! She doesn't have to know I'm also in love with her just yet. Besides, it'd be more fun to travel with her if she's in the dark about my feelings for her. Oh Arceus, this is going to be so much fun!' Ash grinned and started walking back to his house, already thinking about the best way to tease her.

Poor Cynthia, she had no idea what she was in for when she fell for this blockhead.

"Hey mom, I'm back! Again!" called Ash, chuckling as he walked through the front door. Pikachu noticed the grin on Ash's face and instantly knew something was up. He gave Ash a long look.

Ash bent down and whispered in Pikachu's ear. "You were right about Garchomp Pikachu, and Arceus damnit, you were right about me too." Pikachu's face lit up with glee and he rushed out the door to go to Professor Oak's ranch so he could tell Ash's other pokemon the big news.

"Hurry back Pikachu, dinner's soon!" called Delia at Pikachu's retreating figure. Ash turned to his mother and noticed her taking the dinner out of the oven. Immediately he started salivating at the thought of one of his mother's home-cooked meals, but then he remembered how much his mother had helped him and his look changed to a grateful smile.

"Hey honey, did you find the answer to your problem?" inquired Delia as she put the food on the table.

"Yep, thanks a lot for your help, mom," said Ash as he pulled his mother into a giant Ursaring-hug.

Delia smiled at her son. "You're welcome sweetie. Now go upstairs and sort this out while dinner cools off, ok?"

Ash nodded and walked up the stairs to face the girl he loved. 'Well, here we go. I hope she forgives me,' he thought. He stopped in front of his room and gulped. 'You can do this Ash! Be brave!' He nodded to reassure himself as he twisted the doorknob.

"Hey Cynthia, can I come in? I need to talk to you."

**Mwahaha! More suspense! I worked on this chapter more than any other because I wanted it to be as realistic as possible in a world with physics manipulating creatures.**

**Now, I've noticed people have cast their votes on the Eevee poll when they reviewed the last chapter. I hope I don't have to say this again, but please don't do that! I have a poll on my profile for you to cast your vote. If you vote through a review, I won't count it, so please use the poll on my profile!**

**Anyways, now that that's taken care of, I'll try and finish my next chapter over the weekend so my editor can fix it on Tuesday and I can upload it. Don't forget to leave a review for this chapter please. Reading about how people enjoy my story does more for me than you guys know.**

**That's all for now, see you next time! But until then, enjoy the suspense! :)**


	10. Chapter 9

**Hey everybody, I'm back with another new chapter! I've been writing new chapters really quickly lately, haven't I? And today was my last day of school before spring break so now I've got even more time to write! :)**

**A big thank you to everybody who left a review last chapter. You have no idea how much it means to me to hear that people like my story so much. It's just incredible, thank you all so much! You all are the best! :)**

**Anyways, here's the next chapter. R&amp;R and enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon (do I really have to do this every chapter?)**

Chapter 9

_*About An Hour Earlier... *_

"But what about your ice cream?" asked Ash.

"Sorry, but I'm not in the mood for ice cream anymore," said Cynthia as she tossed the rest of her cone into the garbage bin and walked away, leaving a dumbfounded Ash sitting alone at the bench.

Cynthia walked back to the Ketchum residence, muttering the occasional phrase "stupid Ash" and "just a friend." She slipped through the front door as quietly as she could, hoping to avoid a conversation with Delia. Right now all she wanted was to be alone. Once inside, she saw Delia in the kitchen preparing dinner so she tried to tiptoe her way past the living room to the stairs without being seen. Unfortunately, as she climbed the first step the floorboard creaked, which alerted Delia to her presence.

"Cynthia, is that you?" asked Delia. She walked over to the blonde, who stood immobilized at the top step. "What are you doing back so soon, dear? And where's Ash? I wasn't expecting you two to be back from your date for at least another hour."

Cynthia gulped slightly at the word 'date,' but didn't say anything back. In fact, she didn't even _look_ at Delia. Instead, she just slowly started to climb the stairs up to Ash's bedroom.

Delia instantly knew that something had gone amiss. "What's wrong, sweetie?" she asked in a comforting tone. "Is it something Ash did?"

Upon hearing those words, Cynthia couldn't contain herself any longer. "ASH IS AN IDIOT!" she screamed, tears forming in her eyes as she bolted up the rest of the stairs two at a time, made a mad dash to Ash's room, and slammed the door shut behind her.

'Oh dear, what has that son of mine done this time?' thought Delia. 'He must have messed up big time if Cynthia is this upset. But knowing him, he probably doesn't even know what he did wrong. I swear! That boy is even denser than his father!' Delia sighed and walked back to the kitchen. She knew the best thing for Cynthia right now would be time alone to think, so she continued washing the dishes while she prepared herself for the long talk she knew she would have to have with Ash when he returned home.

After Cynthia slammed the door to Ash's room shut, she immediately shut the lights off, launched herself on to his bed, buried her head in his pillow, and screamed as loud as she could.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Thankfully, the pillow was there to muffle the sound.

Eventually she ran out of breath and stopped shouting. She turned over on to her back, stared at the ceiling, and started to think about the one boy who was the cause of all her troubles.

"Ash."

'I hate you, Ash! I hate you! I hate you! I hate you! Why don't you understand how I feel about you? Why can't you realize that I want to be more than just your friend? You stupid, stupid idiot! Can't you see that I-'

She blinked. 'I what, exactly?' Her hateful thoughts fizzled out and she started to wonder what her feelings for the raven-haired boy actually were. Thoughts about the times she'd shared with Ash began to surface. She remembered the time Ash agreed to train with her, that night after he had lost to Tobias at the Sinnoh League. She remembered the time they spent training together and how much she learned about him; how happy she felt whenever he was around. Ash would always get super excited and overreact to everything. Arceus, he could make her laugh! She remembered how much he loved and cared for his pokemon, and the way he treated them like they were his own family. Before she traveled with Ash, her whole life had been dedicated towards training her pokemon, becoming stronger, and mastering the art of battle. Becoming the Sinnoh Champion at her age was a testament to her drive and dedication! But she could honestly say that meeting and traveling with Ash was the best thing that ever happened to her, and meant even more to her then her title ever could. Suddenly, a certain memory came to mind: the memory of the night when everything changed.

_*Flashback (A Month After The Sinnoh League)*_

It was the middle of the night and Ash was leading Cynthia through a bunch of old trees in the forest near Celestic Town. He had a serious look on his face like he was concentrating on something important, most likely where they were. Cynthia, however, was frowning with her arms crossed over her chest, clearly not amused by her student's behavior.

"Ash, where are you taking me? We need to go to sleep so we can have enough energy for morning training tomorrow!" said a disgruntled Cynthia.

Ash turned around and put a finger on his lip. "Shh!"

"Don't shush me! Tell me where you're taking me!"

Ash rolled his eyes. "Lighten up, will you Cynth? We're almost there!"

"I told you not to call me Cynth!" screamed Cynthia.

Her objections fell on deaf ears. Ash just chuckled and continued walking through the trees. A few minutes later he stopped walking, and Cynthia seized the opportunity to speak again.

"Ash Ketchum, if you don't tell me where you're taking me right now, then I'm going straight back-"

"We're here."

"What?" said Cynthia confused. She looked around. "We're where? All I see are more trees."

Ash gave a quick laugh. "Look from where I'm standing." He moved out of the way, and extended his arms as if to say, "after you."

Cynthia raised an eyebrow at him, but stepped forward with her arms still crossed over her chest. When she saw what Ash wanted to show her, her arms fell limp to her sides and her jaw dropped.

For behind the tree was a large clearing and in that clearing was a lake in the shape of a perfect circle. Chatot and Jigglypuff were singing in harmony at the far side of the lake as the Volbeat and Illumise danced, illuminating the water with their tail lights. Lotads and Shellos fired Water Guns into the air that fizzled out around the dancers, soaking their fur in water. The moonlight reflected off of their bodies, causing a rainbow of colors to reflect from their fur. All the other forest pokemon hummed in rhythm to the music. The shimmering moonlight reflected off of the lake as the pokemon continued to dance and sing, adding a sense of mystery to the entire scene. Cynthia stood mesmerized by the mystical scene before her.

"This is incredible!" she declared. "I've never seen something more beautiful in my life!" Ash wrapped his arm around her and smiled, obviously pleased that Cynthia was enjoying herself. She leaned into Ash, her gaze never leaving the pokemon as he continued to hold her.

After about fifteen minutes, the singing and dancing of the pokemon reached its peak and the pokemon prepared for their finale. The Volbeat and Illumise fired their Bug Buzz, the Lotads and Shellos fired their Water Guns, and the Chatot and Jigglypuff used Round. The moves all collided in midair and burst into beautiful fireworks of every color imaginable that sparkled all around the lake, the moonlight adding to the beauty, elegance, and power of the wild pokemon.

Eventually, the pokemon dispersed. Ash held Cynthia's hand and began to lead her back home. When she had finally recovered from the shock (about halfway back) she turned to look at Ash.

"That was amazing."

Ash smiled at her. "I'm glad you liked it Cynth."

"The word 'like' is hardly a strong enough term to describe such an experience! How did you know about that?"

Ash laughed. "Yeah, I'm pretty awesome, aren't I?" he bragged with a smug grin on his face.

Cynthia was still in too much shock to disagree so she simply nodded her head and said, "Yeah."

Ash's grin was replaced with a kind, caring smile. "Now, do you know why I showed you this, Cynthia?" She shook her head. "I showed you this because there are other things in this world besides pokemon battles. Since you've started training me, we haven't once stopped for a break or to have fun and play with our pokemon. This is why I wanted to show you this, Cynthia; to teach you that it's ok to have fun and relax. Yes, it's important that you and your pokemon train and do your best, but it's also important that you have fun. You only get one life Cynth, so make the most of it while you can. Don't waste it away."

Cynthia stopped and stared at Ash with her jaw hanging open again. This morning she wouldn't have believed him, but now, after what she had just seen, she realized that Ash was right. A big smile, full of happiness and gratitude, appeared on her face.

"You are truly one of a kind, Ash."

_*End Flashback*_

That was the night when Cynthia's whole life changed. She started to relax more and have fun. She still trained Ash and helped him and his pokemon get stronger, but she wasn't as uptight about it. She started to play with her own pokemon instead of training them 24/7, something they were ecstatic about. She found it easier to be kind, sweet, and gentle while still staying strong and independent. All because of one person: Ash.

Cynthia taught Ash all she knew about the art of battling but she was learning just as much from Ash as he learned from her. In fact, in her opinion, she learned more from Ash than he learned from her. He taught her the most important lesson of her life: how to have fun. After that night, Cynthia considered Ash a friend, not just a student. There was just something about his presence that gave her a sense of bliss and tranquility. She always felt safe whenever he was with her. His optimism and cheerfulness were infectious. He could wash away her troubles with his laugh and his kindhearted smile was enough to melt her heart every time. She never felt more complete than when he was with her.

"Ash." She said his name as if it were magic.

She turned over on to her side. She was still a little angry, but she knew she would forgive him soon enough. It was Ash after all; she never could stay mad at him for very long. Ten minutes ago she was confused why that was, but now she knew. No longer could she lie to herself and insist that Ash was just her friend. No. It was very clear to her now that Ash was much, much more to her than just a friend.

"I am in love with Ash Ketchum," she whispered softly.

Admitting that made Cynthia feel free, as if the chains that were binding her had finally been cut loose. She turned over on to her back and sighed in content.

"I am in love with Ash Ketchum," she repeated.

"Hey mom, I'm back!" called a familiar voice from downstairs.

'Ash!' thought Cynthia. She jumped out of the bed and slowly opened the door. She crept to the front of the stairs and cupped her hand to her ear so she could listen to the conversation Ash and his mother was having.

"Mom, can I talk to you about something?"

"It's about Cynthia, isn't it?"

"How did you-"

"I saw her storming up to your room earlier, and she looked like she was about to cry. I tried asking her what was wrong, but all she said was 'Ash is an idiot.' Care to explain what happened, dear?"

"I wish I knew mom, but I really don't understand what I did wrong."

"I thought that might be the case. I just put dinner in so it needs time to cook before it's ready. Let's go for a walk, sweetie. You can tell me everything that happened after you two finished your battle and left for ice cream. Pikachu, watch the food for me, ok?"

"_You got it, ma'am!"_

"Come on sweetie, let's go."

Cynthia heard the door close. She stood there for a bit, trying to take in what she had just heard. After a few moments, she slowly crept back into Ash's bedroom, praying to Arceus that Pikachu wouldn't hear her. Once the door was closed and she was properly secluded again, she almost let out another scream, but thankfully managed to hold it back. This time however, it wasn't Ash she was mad at, but herself.

'Argh, I'm so stupid! Of course Ash is confused! How could he not be! He doesn't know how I feel about him, so of course he has no idea why I acted like that!' She stopped and sighed, knowing what she would have to do. 'I need to apologize to Ash right away when he comes back. I may be in love with him but I don't want things to change between us. I know there's no way Ash loves me back; he said it himself, I'm just a friend to him, but I'd rather stay his friend forever than ruin our relationship.'

Cynthia froze again upon realizing what she had just thought. She sat up and hugged her knees together. 'That's right,' she thought. 'Ash will never love me. To him, I'm just his friend; he said it himself: I'll never get the chance to be anything more.' She started to cry, and once she started the tears wouldn't stop. Finally she fell asleep, fully believing that Ash would never love her back.

Cynthia woke to the sound of someone knocking at the door. A familiar voice called out to her.

"Hey Cynthia, can I come in? I need to talk to you."

**So that's Chapter 9. I know I left you all with another cliffhanger. Don't worry though, I'll wrap this bit up next chapter. Then the prologue part will be done and the real story can finally begin. Ash will start traveling through Kanto to collect the Champion Badges by chapter 12 latest.**

**How did I do with the flashback scene? I tried to make it as beautiful and romantic as I could so please let me know if it is.**

**And to all you ladies reading this, could you please let me know if Cynthia's reactions are realistic. I go to an all-boys school, so putting aside the fact that I'm a boy and will never understand women, my knowledge on how girls act when they're in love is not the best. If I could get a girl's honest opinion on it, that would help me out so much.**

**Also, I've had several people asking me to include Sylveon in the poll, so I'm going to say this one more time. Kalos and Unova do ****not**** exist in my story, so there is ****no**** Sylveon!**

**I can't believe how popular this story has gotten! It's only been out for three month and it's already gotten 52 reviews, 115 favorites, 151 follows, and is in 4 communities! That's just insane! Thank you all so much! It means a lot to me! You wonderful readers are the very best like no one ever was!**

**Please leave a review and let me know what you think of this chapter. Again, thank you all soooooooo much! See you next chapter! :)**


	11. Chapter 10

**Hey everybody! Chapter 10 is finally up! I know you've all been waiting for this chapter since I keep leaving you with so many cliffies ( :p ) so here you go- new chapter update!**

**Please read my A/N at the bottom because it's very important.**

**Disclaimer: I'm gonna stop doing these disclaimer thingies. I think we all know by now that I don't own pokemon, and coming up with something witty and clever to put here every time is getting hard.**

**Without further adieu, here's chapter 10.**

Chapter 10

Ash knocked on his bedroom door. "Hey Cynthia, can I come in? I need to talk to you."

She didn't respond.

He tried again. "Cynthia? It's me, Ash. Can I come in?"

Again, no response.

"Cynthia, I'm coming in," he announced. He twisted the knob and swung the door open. "Hey Cynth-"

He stopped talking when he saw what was inside. Cynthia was fast asleep on the bed, squeezing a pillow close to her chest.

'No wonder she didn't answer me,' he thought, amused. He walked over to her and gently sat down on the side of the bed. He brushed away a stray strand of hair from her face and smiled as he studied her sleeping expression. 'She looks so peaceful right now, and so cute too- how did I never notice this before?' He started stroking her forehead with a loving smile on his face, and let out a "hmm" of amusement when she cooed in content and moved closer into his touch. He stayed like that for a few minutes, quietly petting her as she dreamt about who knows what. He thought about all the things that made Cynthia so special to him- all the things that he loved about her. His smile grew even wider.

A few minutes later she started to stir. He quickly retracted his hand, and smiled at her as she used one hand to push herself up into a half-lying, half-sitting position, and the other to cover her mouth as she yawned.

"Ash, is that you?"

"Good morning sleepyhead. Had a nice nap?" he asked kindly, brushing another strand of hair out of her eyes.

"Yeah, I had a really good dream," she said cheerfully, flashing him a big smile.

Suddenly, memories of everything that happened at the park rushed back to her. "Hang on a second!" She jolted upright and crossed her arms over her chest, resulting in Ash falling off the bed and on to the floor. "I'm mad at you!" she said with a slight pout, glaring down at him.

Ash had the audacity to laugh. Cynthia's eyebrows furrowed, and she puffed out her right cheek. He looked into her eyes for a brief moment before he turned away and chuckled again. Then he got up and sat down on the bed right beside her. He allowed himself to fall backwards onto the bed then put both hands behind his head.

"Yeah, I know," he said simply.

Cynthia cocked an eyebrow at him. "And?"

He sat up and looked at her with a remorseful expression. "I'm sorry, Cynthia," he said softly.

Cynthia saw the look on his face and knew that he was definitely sorry for what he had done. 'But this is Ash I'm dealing with, does he even know what he did?' She frowned. "Sorry for...?"

He gave her an awkward smile. "Being an idiot?" he offered as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

She covered her mouth to stifle a laugh. "Good enough," she said, amused. She turned her gaze away from him and stared at the wall. She smiled and kicked her feet back and forth as they dangled off the edge of the bed, suddenly feeling very happy.

No, 'happy' is not the right word; Cynthia was relieved.

'I guess he still doesn't know I'm in love him; my secret's still safe,' she thought, closing her eyes and thanking Arceus that he was so freaking dense-

"By the way, I know you're in love with me."

'What?!' Cynthia's eyes snapped open and widened in terror. She quickly snapped her neck around to face him. "I-I have n-no idea what you're t-talking about, Ash!" she squeaked, her voice filled with fear. He gave her a knowing smile. She saw the look in his eyes and started to panic. 'He knows!' she thought, completely horrified.

"Don't play dumb Cynthia, you're face says it all. I know you love me, and that's why you got so upset when I said you were 'just a friend.' There's no point in trying to deny it," he replied smugly.

The look of terror on Cynthia's face immediately changed as she started to blush for the umpteenth time that day. She turned her face away to avoid looking directly at him. "Sorry," she said quietly.

Ash frowned. That was not what he had expected her to say. 'I need to fix this,' he thought. 'No more teasing; it's time to tell her the truth.' He used his hand to grab her chin which forced her to look at him. He stared directly into her eyes. "Hey, it's okay, Cynth. I'm not mad or anything."

"R-really?"

"Why would I be mad if I found out that the girl I'm in love with loves me back?"

Cynthia's heart stopped. "W-what did you just say?" she whispered slowly.

Ash put his hand on top of hers and smiled even wider. "I'm saying that I love you, Cynthia Shirone."

She tried to detect a lie, but the look he gave her was sincere. But...

"Am I still dreaming?" she asked in barely more than a whisper.

Ash laughed lightly then cupped her face with his hand. She could feel the warmth of his touch on her cheek and her heart started pounding again, only now it was beating five times faster than normal. "Does this feel like a dream?" he whispered.

He leaned in closer and pressed his lips to hers. Cynthia felt like a river of electricity was coursing through her veins, and this time it wasn't because of Pikachu's Thunderbolt. Ash, the boy she was in love with, was kissing her- HER!

She sat there for a few moments, too shocked to move, before she finally gave into the bliss, closed her eyes, and kissed him back. She was so happy she was afraid she might explode. 'If this really is a dream, Arceus, please don't let me wake up.'

The two of them stayed locked in the kiss for a few moments, completely oblivious to everything around them. A meteor could have crashed in the backyard, and they wouldn't have even noticed. Eventually, they ran out of breath and, reluctantly, the two separated from each other. Cynthia was still looking slightly dazed while Ash was beaming at her.

"No, it doesn't feel like a dream," she said sweetly, a loving smile plastered on to her face.

He smiled back at her. "I love you, Cynthia Shirone," he repeated.

"I love you too, Ash Ketchum."

Ash smiled even wider then leaned in for another kiss. Their lips met before a loud click interrupted them and they quickly jerked apart. They turned around and saw Delia crouching down in front of the door with a camera aimed at the two teens.

"Damn it! I thought I set it to silent." Delia muttered under her breath, but still loud enough for Ash and Cynthia to hear, as she lowered the camera. She saw that they were staring at her quizzically, as if still trying to process the situation they were in. "Oh don't mind me you two," she said sweetly. "Just keep doing what you're doing." She raised the camera again to take another picture.

"Mom!" cried Ash mortified. He sprang up from the bed and tried to close the door in his mother's face. Unfortunately for him, she pushed back against the door, complaining, "Come on Ashy, just one more pic of you two smooching, okay?"

"Mom!" Ash repeated, pushing even harder against the door. There was not a single part of his face that wasn't colored red.

"Aww, come on sweetie, it's no big deal. Your father and I have kissed thousands of times before. There's nothing wrong with it," argued Delia with her shoulder against the door, grinning mischievously.

"BUT THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH TAKING A PICTURE OF IT! ESPECIALLY WHEN IT'S OF SOMEONE ELSE!" Ash screamed. He pushed even harder.

"Come on zweetie," asked Delia, her face squashed by the door.

"NO! NOW GET OUT! Ash bellowed, his eyes closed in embarrassment. He roared, pushed against the door as hard as he could, and finally managed to get his mother out of his room. He quickly locked it, then slouched against the wall. 'How is mom so strong?' he thought in disbelief, impressed against his will.

He stood up and turned to face Cynthia, his face a fierce shade of red. However, it was absolutely NOTHING compared to what her face looked liked. Her blush made his look tame by comparison. Although she probably just had more practice blushing than him.

He slowly walked over to her and sat down next to her on the bed. "S-sorry about that," he squeaked, his voice a few octaves higher than usual. 'Stupid mom!' he thought angrily.

"It's fine Ash, I don't mind," Cynthia lied. Her voice was also unusually high-pitched. 'Although, it was totally worth it,' she said in her mind.

They sat for a few minutes in awkward silence before Cynthia laced her fingers with Ash's. Taking a deep breath, she mustered up the courage to speak. "So, are we still 'just friends,' Ash?"

Ash chuckled in spite of what just happened. "Definitely not!" He fidgeted a little before asking, "So, Cynth..."

"Yes, Ash?"

"Would you like to be my girlfriend?"

Cynthia laughed and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "I would like that very much, Ash," she answered coyly.

He smiled at her until a loud rumbling noise came from his stomach.

Cynthia laughed while Ash turned away as his blush returned to his face. He forced the blush to go away then turned to face his new girlfriend. "You want to go get dinner?" he asked hesitantly.

Cynthia giggled again and- seeing a perfect opportunity to tease her new boyfriend- said, "Well, as much as I'd LOVE to see your mother right now, I think we should. I'm getting pretty hungry myself, as well."

Ash laughed, then stood up and offered her his hand. She took it and he pulled her up. They smiled at each other before they walked out of Ash's bedroom and down the stairs, still holding hands.

* * *

"Mhh, that was good food," said Ash, plopping himself on the couch after Cynthia and the two Ketchums had cleaned up after eating dinner.

"Yeah, and you would know since you ate about 90% of it!" teased Cynthia as she sat down next to him.

"It was good food!" he protested as he wrapped his arm around her.

"Ash, you had six helpings of everything! I counted! Where do you even put all that food?" she asked half-amused, half-impressed with his bottomless pit of a stomach.

"Hey! I'm still growing! I need my food or I'll shrink!" he complained.

Cynthia rolled her eyes and smiled before leaning in closer to him. "Good, then I'll be taller than you again," she said playfully.

Ash smirked back at her. "Never going to happen, Cynth, get used to it." He ruffled her hair with his free hand. Cynthia puffed out her cheek and pouted.

Delia coughed to get their attention. "If you two lovebirds are done flirting, get to bed. It's almost 11 pm and you two need your sleep if you plan on leaving tomorrow morning. But I better not have any grandchildren when you come back!" she said with a wink.

"Mom!" complained Ash, springing to his feet with his face tinged red. "Seriously, stop it already! Haven't you embarrassed us enough already?!"

"Us?" said Delia instantly, capitalizing on her son's slip-up with an innocent expression on her face.

"Mom!"

Delia laughed. "Ash, you know I love you. But as your mother, it is my job to embarrass you as much as I possibly can." Ash stared resolutely at the floor.

Cynthia stood up and tapped Ash's face to get his attention. Once she had it, she flashed him a dazzling smile. "Your mother's right Ashy, it's late and we need to sleep. But you better behave yourself mister, you hear me?" she said teasingly, lightly poking him in the chest.

"Not you too!" cried Ash.

"Just be glad your father isn't here right now," said Delia, amused.

Ash paled. "Oh Arceus, you didn't tell him, did you?"

Delia smirked and a twinkle appeared in her eyes. "Not yet," she said mischievously.

Ash sighed in relief. "I am so glad we're leaving before he has a chance to come home."

"Is he that bad?" asked Cynthia, confused.

"No, he's even worse," answered Ash without hesitation. "Come on, let's go before my mom can harass us any more. He grabbed her hand and started walking towards the stairs.

"Ash, where are you going to sleep?" asked Delia.

"In my room," said Ash.

"But that's where Cynthia's sleeping."

"So?"

"A boy and a girl sleeping together in the same room? I don't think so," said Delia, cocking an eyebrow at her son.

"M-Mom! We aren't going to do that!" stammered Ash. "Besides, what's the big deal? We've slept together before!" he said, referring to the year he spent traveling with Cynthia.

"Ash, what did I tell you about sleeping around with girls before you're married?!" questioned Delia. She spoke harshly, but her eyes were filled with mischief.

"MOM!" Ash shrieked, his face deep red.

Cynthia snickered at Ash's plight. She wasn't sure why she wasn't blushing herself, but it might've been that she'd already been teased so much that day that she just didn't care anymore. It was almost like her body was saying, "Sorry, can't get any more embarrassed than I already am. You'll have to deal with this problem without your blush."

So she did.

Besides, now that she knew Ash loved her back, when Delia made a joke at her and Ash's expense, it made her happy, not embarrassed; if she blushed now, it was from bliss.

"Not you too?" said Ash to Cynthia.

Cynthia flashed him a dazzling smile. "Karma sucks, doesn't it?" she asked sweetly. She turned to Delia and saw her give an approving nod.

"Ahh, fine!" screamed Ash. "I don't care anymore! I'm sleeping at Oak's tonight!"

"But I thought it was Cynthia you loved, not Gary?" asked Delia curiously.

Ash tried to talk, but no sound came out. Eventually, he gave up trying to speak, turned away from his mother and Cynthia, and stormed out the door towards Professor Oak's ranch.

"I guess I pushed Ashy a little too far, huh?" said Delia sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck. Her words sounded remorseful, but her tone was one of no regrets.

"Just a little bit," said Cynthia, amused.

The woman and the girl shared a look before they both spontaneously burst out giggling. After a few moments they managed to calm down and stop their fit of laughter.

Delia turned to Cynthia and looked at her with a kind smile on her face. "I don't think Ash is coming back tonight," Delia said knowingly.

Cynthia turned around to head out the door before she was stopped by Delia putting a hand on her shoulder. "So while we have the chance I'd like to talk to you about a few things. Is that ok, dear?"

"It's about Ash, isn't it?" asked Cynthia, worried. A nervous smile appeared on her face.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to tease you, dear. I just want a quick chat, girl to girl." She removed her hand from Cynthia's shoulder, situated herself on the living room couch, then motioned for Cynthia to take the chair next to her.

Cynthia sighed in relief and walked . 'Thank Arceus!' she thought as she sat down.

* * *

Ash trudged his way towards Professor Oak's house, occasionally muttering things like "Stupid mom" and "Cynthia was supposed to be on my side." He was so angry he didn't even realize he'd made it to the Oak residence until he banged his head into the brick wall outside their front door.

"Ouch," he muttered, rubbing his nose with one hand and ringing the bell with the other. After a few seconds of waiting, the door swung open revealing a very familiar face.

"Well, well, look who it is!" said the familiar voice that came from the face. He extended his hand out to Ash.

Ash grinned, shook the hand, and pulled the person in close for a quick man-hug. "Hey Gary, long time no see," said Ash as he pulled away from the hug.

Gary grinned. "Good to see you too, Ashy-boy. What brings you here this late at night? Going to see your pokemon?"

Ash rubbed the back of his head. "Well, sort of. Can I stay the night? I'll explain inside."

Gary shrugged. "Sure, if you don't mind sleeping on the couch."

"That's fine; I don't care where I sleep, as long as it's away from home."

Gary raised an eyebrow, but figured he'd get an explanation soon enough anyways, so he let it go. "Well then, come on in, Ashy-boy. Make yourself at home." said Gary, extending his arm in an after-you gesture. Ash nodded thanks and walked through the door. Gary led Ash to the living room and motioned to the couch.

"Gramps is asleep already. Wait here, I'll go get you a blanket." Gary left the room, leaving Ash to his thoughts. About a minute later, Gary came back and tossed Ash a blanket. He then grabbed a chair, twisted it around, and sat down, making it so his chest was leaning against the back of the chair instead of his back. He placed his arms on the top of the chair and put his head on top of his arms.

"OK Ashy-boy, spill. What happened? Did it have something to do with the Sinnoh Champ?" asked Gary, much to Ash's surprise.

"How did you know Cynthia was here?" he asked cautiously.

"Bumped into her about a week ago. She said she was waiting for you to come home. I figured if you're back in Pallet, she must've found you, and judging by your desire to get away from home, I'm assuming something must've happened between you two and now you're trying to get away from her," said Gary matter-of-factly, impressing Ash with his logic. "Which is not a good idea, by the way," he added.

"That's some impressive logic there Gary," said Ash, crossing his arms with a slight smile on his face.

"Hey, I'm not a Pokemon Professor for nothing, you know," said Gary with a cocky grin.

Ash rolled his eyes. "I said it was impressive, I didn't say it was right."

Gary's smile vanished when he realized he was wrong. "Alright, I'll bite, so spill. What happened?"

"I didn't leave to get away from Cynthia, I left to get away from my mother," said Ash with a small shudder as he remembered his mother's last words.

Gary closed his eyes and nodded. "Alright, what happened?"

"She was embarrassing me!" complained Ash.

"So? That's a mom's job," said Gary sagely.

"Not like this! She was just being downright cruel!"

Gary scratched his head in confusion. "What could she have possibly done that was that bad?"

Ash sighed. "Well, for starters, she snuck into my room while me and Cynthia were having a serious conversation and took a picture of us kissing."

Gary held out a hand to stop him. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Back up there, Ashy-boy. You were making out with the Sinnoh Champion? In your bedroom?!" asked Gary dumbfounded.

Ash blinked. "That's what I said, isn't it?"

Gary was shocked. Ash Ketchum, the densest boy on Earth, managed to get a girlfriend before the great Gary Oak, self-proclaimed ladies' man? "Uhhhh, okay. Congrats, I guess. How long have you two been together?"

Ash rubbed the back of his head embarrassedly. "Umm." He checked the clock. "About two hours, give or take."

"WHAT?!" screamed Gary, bolting up and knocking his chair to the ground.

Ash put his hands over his ears. "Ow! Not so loud Gary, you'll wake up the old man."

Gary rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed by his outburst. "Sorry Ash, I'm just a little surprised is all. You guys just got together tonight?" Ash nodded. Gary took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself down. "Okay, start from the beginning. Tell me everything that happened from the time you arrived back in Pallet Town until now."

Ash checked the clock again. "Alright, but we're gonna be here awhile."

* * *

"...I was so mad I didn't even notice I was at your house until I bumped my head into that brick wall of yours," said Ash as he finished recounting his tale to Gary. "Then I rang the doorbell, you answered the door, and well, you know the rest from there." Ash leaned into the couch, crossed his legs, and put his hands behind his head as he waited for Gary to say something.

Gary put his hand on his forehead as he struggled to process everything. Finally, he shook his head and cleared his thoughts. "So let me get this straight. First, you beat the Sinnoh Champion 3 to 0 in a pokemon battle. Then you took said Champion out on a date. You, being your usual dense-as-a-brick self, said something stupid and got her upset. You thought about why she got so pissed at you, and in the process, somehow managed to push past that denseness and realized that she loves you and you love her. You go back to your house and find her sleeping on your bed. You stare at her until she wakes up-"

"Hey!"

"Then you confess to her and forcibly kiss her before she can give a response-"

"Stop making me sound like some sort of creepy pervert, Gary."

"Then your mother comes into the room and takes a picture of you two making out. You flip out at her and slam the door in her face before heading back down the stairs with Cynthia for dinner. After eating enough to feed two fully grown Snorlax, your mother starts teasing you, pretending to reprimand you for doing the deed with Cynthia multiple times before you're married. You got so embarrassed that you chickened out and left the house, leaving your mother alone to tell Cynthia embarrassing stories about you without you there to counter them. Did I get all that?"

Ash paled. "Oh Arceus! I didn't even think of that! Do you really think mom would tell Cynthia embarrassing stories about me?"

Gary nodded. "Knowing your mother, I'd be more surprised if she didn't."

"Oh Arceus! What do I do?!"

"Well for starters, you could give me that picture your mom took of you and Cynthia making out. The media would pay a fortune for that!"

"Hell no!" Ash snapped. "The last thing I need is for the paparazzi to follow me and Cynthia around as I take on the Kanto Champion Challenge. Those heartless beasts are relentless!"

Gary laughed. "Relax man, I wouldn't sell you out like that," he said with a grin. "Well, not unless I was really desperate."

Ash rolled his eyes. "Thanks, that makes me feel so safe."

Gary laughed again. "I'm joking, relax Ashy-boy. Lighten up, will you?" He pushed Ash's shoulder playfully.

"Sorry Gare-bear, that's just impossible right now," said Ash sharply, rubbing his arm where Gary had shoved him. Ash checked the clock again. It was almost 1 am. "Look Gary, I appreciate you trying to cheer me up and all, but it's getting pretty late and I've got a big day tomorrow."

"Yeah I hear you," said Gary. "I'll let you get your sleep. G'night, Ashy-boy."

"Good night, Gary."

Ash lay down on the couch and pulled the blanket over his shoulder. The day's events kept playing over in his mind. Of all the people he'd spoken to that day, one person in particular filled his thoughts.

Cynthia.

Man that was an awesome kiss.

Tomorrow he would start traveling through Kanto again, this time with Cynthia. He wasn't sure what the future had in store, but he was sure of one thing. He loved her and was very happy she was going to be traveling with him.

This was going to be one hell of an adventure.

**Well, that's a wrap! Hope you all enjoyed the show! :)**

**I think this is the best chapter I've ever written. At over 4,000 words, it's definitely the longest! So to all you people complaining that my last few chapters have been too short, I hope this satisfies you. :)**

**Regardless, this has definitely been the most fun I've ever had writing a new chapter. Delia teased Ash so much! I've never kissed anyone before so I'm sorry if I didn't get the feelings down right, but as for the thing about teasing your child being a parent's job, that's something my dad told me once and I can testify that it is 100% accurate. My parents tease me like that all the time.**

**Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter as much as I did. As usual, please leave a review. Hearing your input does more for me than you know.**

**Also, as a side note, I just wanted to point out something awesome. My story hasn't even been out for four months and it's already got 138 favorites, 180 follows, and is in four different communities! That's just awesome! Thank you all so much! You guys are the best! :)**

**Now, on to the serious stuff. My schedule in school is going to get really hectic soon, so I probably won't be able to get more than a chapter or two out at most for the next month or so, possibly none at all. That's why I wanted to get this chapter out while I still had the time (coincidentally, today also happens to be my 18th birthday! :) ) However, at the end of the month I will be graduating high school, which means I'll have two months before my summer job starts to write as much as I want. I should probably be able to update much more frequently those two months.**

**As for the story itself, this chapter finally marks the end of the introductory chapters. :)**

**Next chapter Ash and Cynthia finally start their journey through Kanto together, and the story will really get going.**

**See you all next time, and please don't forget to leave a review! :)**


	12. Chapter 11

**Sorry this took so long.**

Chapter 11

Ash woke up very early the next morning confused as to why he'd been sleeping on a couch before all the memories of last night flooded his mind. He flung the blankets off of his legs, jammed his hat on his head, and stood up. He left a hastily written thank-you note on the living room table where he knew Gary would find it, then went out the back door that led to the pokemon ranch.

The first two he saw were Bulbasaur and Gardevoir, both asleep under a tree. He saw the peaceful expressions on their faces and smiled. It felt like a crime to wake them up but this was important, so he poked the flower on Bulbasaur's back, trying to rouse him up as quietly as possible to give Gardevoir a few extra minutes to sleep. "Hey buddy, it's time to wake up."

After a few pokes, Bulbasaur stirred and sleepily rubbed his eyes with his vine. "_Ash?"_ he asked, confused.

"Good morning; slept well?" asked Ash, smiling.

"_Yeah, I had a really cool dream."_

"Awesome! I'd love to hear about it, Bulbasaur, but I need a favor."

"_Sure, what's up?"_

"I need you to go and gather the troops. I want to talk to everybody before I announce who's coming with me first."

"_What do you- Oh, that's right! The Kanto Champion Challenge starts today. You're traveling with Cynthia and-" _He suddenly stopped talking and gave Ash an evil grin.

"What?" asked Ash, not understanding the look. A twinkle appeared in Bulbasaur's eyes.

"_Cynthia, huh? It certainly took you long enough," _he teased.

Ash blushed. "Shut up! I'm not talking about that now! I'll wake Gardevoir; can you please just go get the rest of them?"

The little grass type gave him another evil grin. "_Alright, I'll go. Be back soon, Ashy-boy." _He turned around and left to go get everybody, ignoring the angry glare from his trainer.

"Pikachu told all of them, didn't he?" Ash muttered to himself after Bulbasaur was out of sight. "Knowing my pokemon, that's all I'm going to hear from them today." He let out a huge sigh before snapping his fingers as an idea popped into his head. "I know! I'll just threaten to keep them all in their pokeballs! That'll keep them quiet…hopefully." He shook his head, deciding he'd cross that bridge when he got to it, then knelt down to rouse Gardevoir. He rubbed her shoulder gently, trying to wake her as tenderly as he could.

"_Ugh, what time is it?" _said Gardevoir as she slowly sat up, stretched her arms, and let out a big yawn. She blinked before she finally noticed the smiling boy in front of her. "_Ash!" _she cried happily. She threw her arms out and gave her trainer a big hug.

"Good morning to you too, Gardevoir," he said, as he returned the hug. He started petting her head and she cooed happily before she remembered something very important. She pulled out of the hug and gave him a serious look. Ash raised an eyebrow, puzzled by her abrupt change in demeanor.

"_So Ash, Pikachu told me last night that you and Cynthia are together now. Is that true?" _she asked, as if the world depended on his answer. Ash braced himself.

"Yes, we are," he said, before stuffing his fingers in his ears.

Gardevoir squealed like a fangirl and little hearts appeared in her eyes. "_Oh my Arceus! Congratulations! Oh, I just knew you two would get together someday; you make such a cute couple! Ahhhhh! I'm just so happy for you right now! So, how did it happen? Did you confess to her? What did you say? Give me the details already! And don't you dare leave anything out!"_

"_I think that's something we'd all like to hear," _said a voice from behind them. Ash turned around and saw all his pokemon standing in front of him. Pikachu- who was the one that just spoke- was out in front. They all looked at him expectantly.

Bulbasaur poked his head through the crowd. "_I got everybody, just like you asked, Ash."_

"_Yeah, yeah. Now get on with your promise," _said Charizard, as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Wait, promise?" asked Ash, confused.

"_Bulbasaur informed us that you had requested a meeting and that you had promised to tell us the story of how you finally courted miss Cynthia at the start of said meeting," _explained Staraptor.

"_You are going to, right, Ash?" _asked Infernape, cracking his knuckles. His tone made it pretty clear that 'no' wasn't an option.

"_Yeah, you weren't lying to me, were you, Ash?" _asked Bulbasaur shamelessly. He smiled innocently at his trainer. If looks could kill, Bulbasaur would be six feet under by now. Ash turned to face his pokemon. He gulped when he saw the looks they were giving him and realized there was no way for him to get out of it.

"_Well? We're waiting..." _said Sceptile, as he mirrored Infernape by also cracking his knuckles.

"Fine, I'll tell you, but that isn't the reason I called you all here," said Ash, in one last desperate attempt to change the topic.

"_Yeah, yeah, tell us later. Get on with the good stuff already, will ya?" _demanded Charizard, crushing Ash's last hope like a dry leaf in the winter. Several pokemon nodded their heads eagerly.

Ash sighed in defeat. He took a deep breath then clapped his hands together. "Alright, you guys want to know what happened? It starts like this…"

* * *

"...And then I had Bulbasaur wake you all up, and, well, here we are," concluded Ash. A silence permeated the air as he awaited the teasing. Pikachu, Charizard, and Bulbasaur shared a look, but Gardevoir was the first to break the silence.

"_Oh my Arceus, that was so sweet!" _she squealed as the little hearts re-appeared in her eyes.

"_I had no idea you could be so romantic, Master," _said Lucario, impressed.

"_Quite commendable indeed,"_ said Noctowl. Several other pokemon made similar comments, while other nodded in agreement.

"Thanks you guys." He blushed and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, too surprised by the unexpected praise and lack of teasing to even notice that Lucario had just called him Master again.

Suddenly, Charizard swore violently.

"_Charizard! Watch your language, Eevee's listening!"_ admonished Meganium, stuffing her vines in the young, happily oblivious pokemon's ears.

"_She's right. Seriously man, do I need to zap you again?" _asked Pikachu, incredulous. He wouldn't even hesitate to electrocute the admittedly bigger pokemon if he swore again in front of the kid.

Charizard met Pikachu's frown with an angry glare before his expression softened. "_Sorry, it's just- I'm mad, is all. After hearing all that, I can't tease Ashy-boy anymore."_

"_What are talking about, you overgrown lizard? You can tease him anytime you want. He doesn't even bite back; it's easy picking," _said Floatzel, grinning at the glare Ash gave him.

Charizard growled. "_Are you kidding me?! Did you even hear the things Delia did, and said, to the poor boy? I honestly want to cry right now; it's horrible!" _He turned to face Ash, his eyes filled with pity for his trainer's plight. "_I'm really sorry, Ash; parents are the worst! Charla's still tease us, even though we've been mates for several years already!" _He shuddered slightly before continuing. "_I just want to let you know that I'm here for ya if you ever need somebody to talk to." _He put a claw on Ash's shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile.

"Charizard," said Ash softly, touched by his uncharacteristic display of emotion. Manly tears started dripping down his cheek. Unable to express his gratitude in words, he simply hugged the lizard he was proud to call a friend for all he was worth.

"_No! Don't-don't you dare start crying Ash!" _said Charizard nervously. "_If-if you start crying, th-then I'll start cr-crying too. So d-don't you dare cry, ya hear me? Do not cry! Don't-" _he stopped his rambling as the two men- pokemon and human alike- started bawling like babies about the unfairness of parental teasing.

The other pokemon looked on, completely dumbfounded by the scene in front of them. Seeing Ash cry was rare enough, but Charizard too?! They all grew nervous as a single thought simultaneously entered all of their minds: 'Are all parents that bad?' Some of the pokemon started to panic, imagining themselves in similar situations, while others just felt bad for poking fun at Ash earlier. One of the members of the first category was extremely desperate to distract himself from the terrifyingly similar scenario he'd envisioned himself in. He coughed loudly to get everybody's attention.

"_We all feel bad for you Ash, but isn't there something you wanted to tell us?" _said Pikachu. Ash sniffled and wiped his eyes as he and Charizard separated. When he regained his composure, he smiled. He had not anticipated that something like this would happen during his interrogation, but he was glad that it did.

"Listen up, everybody! I'm going to explain my battle plan for the tournament now," he announced. All the pokemon moved in closer, their interests' peaked, as all traces of parental worries disappeared. "Ok, so here's the deal. Professor Oak has lowered my carry limit to 10, now that we're back in civilization." Boos and jeers interrupted him, as well as many creative insults directed at Professor Oak. Ash frowned. "Now, now, calm down you guys," he called, trying to regain control. His pokemon grudgingly stopped their outburst and allowed him to continue. "That's better. Anyways, since I can only take 10 with me, obviously some of you will have to stay behind at first. Don't worry, everyone will be getting the chance to battle during the tournament, so you'll all get be able to travel with me at one point or another," he added, as they let out a fresh wave of groans. He smiled at them then clapped his hands together. "For the first group I choose…"

He paused for dramatic effect.

"Pikachu!" The electric mouse whooped. "I can't go to war without my general, now can I? Plus, I don't think anybody would recognize me without you on my shoulder." Pikachu jumped up to his rightful place on Ash and licked his cheek affectionately, as the other pokemon laughed at the joke. It was funny because it was true.

"Second is Eevee," he announced. Everyone made way to clear space for the very shocked looking pokemon.

"_M-me," _she stammered in disbelief. "_But-but why me? Everyone else is so much stronger."_

"That's precisely why! It's time to start your training! You ready to get stronger, girl?" Eevee stared at him in awe before a look of determination came over her face. She nodded and walked over to him.

"_I'll make you proud, daddy!" _Ash smiled at his pokedaughter, crouched down, and ruffled the fur on her head before returning his attention to the other pokemon.

"Alright, numbers three and four are Lucario and Gardevoir. I need someone to practice my aura with and we can't go anywhere without our medic." He bumped arms with Lucario before Gardevoir squealed and pulled him into a giant hug. She released him, then proceeded to latch on to his arm, eyes closed, content with a happy smile on her face. He rubbed the back of his neck with his free arm then continued talking. "Floatzel, you're fifth. I want to work with you some more since you just evolved. Sceptile, you've got the type advantage against the first two gyms, so you're sixth."

"_Hell yeah!" _exclaimed Floatzel, as he pumped his arm in the air. Sceptile gave Infernape a look of superiority, and he responded by sticking his tongue out at his rival. They then made their way over to their trainer and stood behind him next to Lucario and Eevee.

"Garchomp, you're seventh," said Ash, giving the dragon a subtle wink. Garchomp's face flushed as he realized he was being given a chance to spend more time with Gia. "Eighth is Heracross. You're welcome, Bulbasaur." Everyone laughed while Bulbasaur slumped in relief. "Staraptor, you're number nine. I have an idea to help flying types reach a new level of speed, but I want to test it on Staraptor first before I try it on the rest of you." Staraptor smiled and ruffled his feathers proudly, ready and willing to be a practice dummy.

"_I'd be honored," _he said formally, before flying over to join the others. All the remaining pokemon looked at him expectantly.

Ash rubbed the back of his neck. "I was originally planning to leave the last space open, in case we caught a new friend, but I've changed my mind. Get over here Charizard." He beamed at the big lizard, who grinned back and let out a huge Flamethrower into the sky.

"_Yeesh, was that really necessary? You probably just woke up the whole town," _complained Pikachu.

"_Yes, yes it was," _replied Charizard with a grin. All the pokemon laughed.

"Alright guys, I'm sorry if you weren't chosen first, but you'll all get a chance to battle in the tournament," promised Ash. "However, I expect each and every one of you to keep up with your training while I'm away or the deal's off." He gave all his pokemon a stern look and they returned it with determined expressions on all of their faces. A warm, proud smile replaced his glare. "Make sure you all behave for Professor Oak and Tracey while I'm gone, ok guys? They'll take care of you. And Infernape, I'm leaving you in charge of making sure nobody slacks off. Think you can handle it?"

Infernape saluted Ash with a sadistic smile on his face. "_You can count on me, sir!" _He turned to address the others. "_Listen up, hatchlings! Anyone who slacks off, goes without dinner, am I clear?" _Everyone formed lines, snapped to attention, and saluted- or at least, their species' equivalent to a salute.

"_SIR, YES SIR!" _they roared in unison. Ash smiled at their enthusiasm. Even though he knew they were just playing around, he decided to go along with it anyways. He put his fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly.

"ATTENTION!" he bellowed.

"_SIR, YES SIR!" _they repeated. The pokemon behind him joined the others and they all stared at Ash, determined looks on all their faces.

"I'm not going to lie to you soldiers, this tournament will not be easy," he began, hands linked behind his back as he paced from side to side. "It may very well be the biggest challenge we will ever face. Many battles against powerful trainers and their pokemon await us." He stood still and shifted his gaze over to his pokemon. "However, we have pushed ourselves to the absolute limits of our strength, and beyond! Has all that time we spent training been just for show?!"

"_SIR, NO SIR!"_

"That's what I thought. Soldiers, you already know this, but I have never won an official league before. But what you don't know is that I'm tired of losing all the time! I know I don't show it, and I always act like everything's fine, but it's true! I mean, who in their right mind actually enjoys losing? I don't, and I know none of you do." He glanced at his pokemon, expecting to see downtrodden expressions on their faces, instead he was met with looks filled with pure determination. His militant gaze morphed into the maniacal grin of an adrenaline junkie.

"I WANT TO WIN!" he roared. The pokemon cheered and looked up at him eagerly.

"And we will! We will rise to the occasion and prove to the world how strong we really are. When this challenge is over, we will come out on top as the Kanto Champions, I swear it! Because we have something special, something nobody else has..."

He paused for dramatic effect.

"WE HAVE HEART! WE HAVE SPIRIT! WE HAVE THE COURAGE TO CONTINUE FIGHTING UNTIL THE VERY END!" He paused and his pokemon waited for the grand finale. He grinned.

"Everyone, this marks the start of a brand new adventure. We've been training for so long now, and I know you can handle anything this tournament has to throw at us."

He raised his fist into the air.

"WE WILL WIN! WE WILL BE CHAMPIONS!"

All the pokemon roared as loud as they could, battle-crazy grins on all their faces. Ash folded his arms and smiled. He was both proud and honored to be their friend and trainer, and he knew that together they could take Kanto by storm. When the cacophony finally subsided, Pikachu decided to say a few words as the second-in-command.

"_Three cheers for Ash!"_ he bellowed, pumping his fist in the air.

"ASH, ASH, ASH, ASH, ASH, ASH, ASH, ASH, ASH!" his pokemon roared, getting louder every time they cried his name. Ash started to cry a few tears of joy before he wiped his eyes on his sleeve.

"You guys are the best," he choked out, his voice thick with emotion. All the smaller pokemon dogpiled on top of him while the bigger ones looked on, smiling. Eventually, they got off and he stood back up, a huge grin plastered on his face. "Seriously, you guys really are the best; I love you all!" His pokemon gave another roar and Ash was unable to wipe away the huge smile that appeared on his face.

"LET'S DO THIS!" he cheered.

* * *

Cynthia was deep in dreamland, a blanket sprawled over her legs. A silly grin was plastered on her face as she squeezed a pillow close to her body. "Oh Ash, you're such a good kisser!" she murmured, still fast asleep. She started kissing the pillow until she heard a loud tap and jolted upright. She looked around, trying to locate what had made the noise so she could punch it. She was enjoying that dream! Just then, she heard the tapping sound again. It was coming from the window- which means someone had thrown a rock at it! She growled and swung out of bed. She walked over to the window and opened it so she could see who Garchomp's next play toy was going to be.

It was Ash.

Her face flushed as she remembered the dream she just had. "A-Ash? W-What are you doing?" she asked loudly.

Ash put a finger to his mouth. "Shh, I don't want to wake up mom," he said nervously.

"What? Why?" asked Cynthia.

Ash rubbed the back of his neck. "Too embarrassing; I'll call her when we're in Pewter City. Can you just grab my stuff for me and meet me outside?" he pleaded.

Cynthia saw the desperate look on his face, and sighed. "Fine, just give me a few minutes to get ready, alright?"

Ash nodded. She started to turn around, but he wasn't finished. "Wait! One last thing!" Cynthia looked back at him and raised her eyebrow. "Whatever my mom told you last night about my past is a lie," he said poker-faced.

She laughed.

"Whatever you say, Mr. Voted-Most-Likely-To-Marry-A-Pokemon-In-Kindergarten," she said sweetly. She flashed him a teasing smile and his face flushed deep red before she closed the window and turned around to get ready.

Fifteen minutes later, she emerged from Ash's room, fully dressed with her bag on one shoulder and Ash's on the other. She crept her way down the stairs, but stopped dead cold at the bottom when a familiar voice called out to her.

"Cynthia, where are you going, dear?"

She looked up to see Delia in the kitchen, looking directly at her. The stove was on and scrambled eggs were sizzling in the pan. Clearly, Delia had been making an early breakfast, but for whom she couldn't tell. She gulped nervously before assuming an unreadable expression. Her mind raced to come up with a plausible excuse.

"I'm just going out for a walk," she said, keeping her voice as steady as possible.

Delia raised an eyebrow. "With Ash's bag?"

Cynthia's eyes widened for a moment, before her mask of calm returned. She'd forgotten she was holding that! Her eyes darted nervously to the door as she struggled to think of a cover.

"Just so you know dear, it's never a good idea to lie to your boyfriend's mother," said Delia conversationally. Cynthia turned to face the older woman and saw the look she was giving her. Her mask broke and she sighed.

"He's outside," she admitted, finding the floor immensely fascinating.

Delia smiled at her. "Thank you, sweetie. Come, let's go say good morning to him." She turned to walk out the door. Cynthia let out a moan of self-pity as she followed Delia outside. Ash was going to be so mad at her! She may have gotten some brownie points with his mother, but she felt like a terrible girlfriend. They hadn't even been together for one full day and she'd already ratted him out. She prayed to Arceus that Delia wouldn't do anything...extreme.

**When I was writing this chapter, words just kept tumbling out and it ended up being ridiculously long (over 6,800 words!), so I just split the chapter in two.**


	13. Chapter 12

**Here's the next part.**

Chapter 12

Ash sat on a tree branch, absentmindedly stroking Pikachu's fur. The little mouse smiled happily, clearly enjoying the extra attention. If Ash wasn't so worried at the moment, he would have been rather impressed with himself for coming up with such a good hiding spot. He was concealed in such a way that his mother wouldn't be able to spot him if she looked out a window, but Cynthia would notice him almost instantly when she walked out the door.

He let out an impatient grunt. All this waiting was killing him! Cynthia said she'd only be a few minutes, but it had been almost fifteen already! He knew girls took a while to get ready in the morning but couldn't she wait until they were safe in Pewter City and away from his mother? He grunted impatiently again and started scratching Pikachu harder than was pleasant. Pikachu yelped and Ash blinked as if he were coming out of a daze. His eyes moved downwards as he searched for the source of the noise, and found his starter giving him an angry glare. His eyes widened as he realized he was causing Pikachu pain and he quickly stopped.

"Sorry buddy," he said quickly, before resuming his previous, gentler petting pace.

Pikachu frowned. "_Are you ok, Ash? You've never scratched my fur before."_

"What? Oh, sorry I hurt you buddy; I'm just a little worried, I guess. " He rubbed the back of his head and gave Pikachu a small, apologetic smile.

"_Worried about what? Your mom?"_

Ash chuckled. "Well, yes, but she's not what I was referring to."

"_Then what are you so worried about?"_

"I'm worried about this Champion Challenge. I know what I said to all of you, and it's true; all of you are ready for this. But what if _I'm _not good enough? What if I'm the one who messes up? What if I make the wrong call, and it costs us the battle? What if-"

"_Hey!" _interrupted Pikachu. Ash turned to look at him and was met by a very stern glare. He raised his eyebrow and his friend's glare softened. "_Listen Ash, I can't say for sure that you won't make a single mistake during the tournament. A battle is unpredictable; anything can happen. It's only natural you'd be a little nervous, but you aren't the only one who's worried, you know?"_

"What are you talking about?" asked Ash, though not unkindly.

"'_What if I hear my trainer wrong and make a mistake?' 'What if my reflexes aren't fast enough and I can't dodge in time?' 'What if I'm not strong enough to win?' These are thoughts that run through every pokemon's mind before they go into a battle. This nervousness you're feeling right now is something everyone feels. Nothing is set in stone. Like I said, a battle is unpredictable, and because of that, losing is always a possibility. But Ash, you've been training just as hard as all of us have from the very start; you've put in the time and effort to get stronger and smarter. For you, winning is an even greater possibility! You can do this Ash, and you will! We all believe in you- me, Charizard, Lucario, Gardevoir, Sceptile, everybody! We all know you're ready for this, and we trust you one hundred percent. It's good to be a little nervous- it keeps you from becoming lazy and complacent, and helps you stay alert in battle. There will always be someone stronger than you, but just because they're stronger doesn't mean you can't win."_

"But what if I mess up? It doesn't matter how good I am if I choke in the middle and can't follow through."

"_Ash, I have known you for almost eight years now, ever since you were ten years old. In all those years, not once have I ever seen you choke in battle before. On food maybe, but never in a fight. Sure, you've made a few bad calls over the years, rushed into things without thinking them through, but never have you decided _not _to act! And in all the time that I've known you Ash, you have never been more prepared for this moment than you are right now. You can do this; I believe that with zero reservations! Ask any of your pokemon and they'll tell you the exact same thing._

"_You can win it all Ash, and you will. Believe in us, your pokemon, and we can accomplish anything. But more importantly, you need to believe in yourself. You're an amazing trainer, and have the makings of a true champion. Cynthia saw that in you; that's why she decided to train you. And the rest of the world will see it too once you win that tournament!" _He smirked at him before continuing. "_So quit worrying already! It's unbecoming for a future champion."_

Ash chuckled and Pikachu decided to finish his 'little' speech. "_Just know that no matter what happens, I've always got your back."_

Ash's nervous frown morphed into a grateful smile. "You're the best, Pikachu. I don't know where I'd be without you." Pikachu smiled back, but then a look of terror appeared on his face. He pointed with his paw.

"_Probably alive, because if you never became a pokemon trainer you wouldn't be in this mess." _Ash frowned until he noticed what Pikachu was pointing to.

It was his house.

And his mother was walking straight towards him.

"Oh Arceus, I'm screwed!" he whispered. Pikachu nodded in agreement. His mother stopped in front of the tree and looked up at him expectantly. He gulped nervously and jumped down from the branch. When he landed, he noticed a familiar weight was missing from his shoulder. He looked up at the tree and saw Pikachu was still there, cowering behind some leaves. "What happened to that promise?!" he asked, indignant.

"_That's only for battles! You're mother doesn't count; she's scary!" _he squeaked.

"Traitor!"

"Ahem!" Delia coughed.

Ash twirled around to face his mother. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she tapped her foot repeatedly. "H-Hi mom! G-good morning!" he stammered, his voice several octaves higher than usual.

A ridiculously wide smiled appeared on her face. "Hi sweetie," she replied, in a tone of voice too sweet to be real. "Did you sleep well?"

"Y-yeah, it was great," he said quickly.

"Good, good. So, random question: why didn't you come home this morning and instead asked Cynthia to meet you outside?"

He gulped again. "Umm," he answered intelligently. It was then he noticed that Cynthia was hiding behind his mother. He raised an eyebrow at her. She moved out from her hiding place and looked at him hesitantly. Her eyes were saying _I'm sorry_ over and over again. He smiled at her, as if to say _I forgive you_. She gave him a small smile back, and for a few moments they stared at each other, totally oblivious to the ticking time bomb standing next to them.

Delia coughed again, a little louder this time, causing Ash and Cynthia to snap out of their trance. "Well?"

Ash sighed in defeat. "I'm sorry, mom. I just- I didn't want to deal with your teasing." Delia's expression softened slightly, but her arms remained crossed.

"That's not a reason to leave without saying goodbye," she said softly.

"I know, but it's not like this is the last time we'll see each other; I'll be back in a couple of months. And besides, I would've called you once we got to Pewter City." He rubbed the back of his neck and looked up hopefully.

Delia frowned. "That's still not a reason to leave without saying goodbye. I'm your mother, Ash, I worry about you." He shifted uncomfortably and Cynthia took note of how guilty he looked.

"You're right mom, I shouldn't have tried to leave without saying goodbye to you. I'm sorry." He bowed his head and closed his eyes, preparing for the worst.

"Apology accepted. Now come inside for breakfast before you head out."

He looked up and blinked. "Huh?"

Delia smiled. "What? Did you expect me to yell at you? I get it, Ash; I was young once too, you know. That doesn't mean it's ok, but I know why you tried to leave without saying something. All I was looking for was an apology."

Ash stared dumbly as she led him into the kitchen. Cynthia and Pikachu exchanged a look then shrugged and followed them inside.

* * *

"Now are you sure you have everything?" Delia asked. Ash struggled not to roll his eyes as he released Charizard from his pokeball. The giant lizard let out a loud roar that scared away several Pidgey from nearby trees. They had finished breakfast about half an hour ago and Ash was eager to depart. Pikachu was on his shoulder and Cynthia was ready to go next to him; she was just waiting for him to say goodbye to Delia.

"Yes mother, I have everything," he replied. He kept the sarcasm out of his voice. After this morning, upsetting her was the last thing he wanted to do.

Delia smiled at him then pulled him into a monster hug. "Good. Don't forget to have fun out there, sweetheart. Remember, I'm rooting for you!" She released him and took a step back.

Ash rubbed the back of his neck and smiled. "Thanks, mom, that means a lot to me."

"And don't forget to change your underwear every day," she added with an innocent smile. Cynthia giggled.

"Mom!" he protested, his face reddening slightly. "This is exactly what I was talking about!"

She smiled. "Sorry sweetie, but that's how I always say goodbye before you start a new journey. It's like a tradition at this point." Ash muttered something about how his mother was out to get him as Delia turned to face Cynthia. "Take care of him, dear; he means the world to me, and you know how much of a trouble magnet he is."

Cynthia smirked. "Don't worry, I'll protect him. Ashy-boy is safe with me," she teased, lightly slapping her fist to her chest.

"Hey! Whose side are you on?" complained Ash. She stuck her tongue out at him and he crossed his arms over his chest and pouted. She mollified him by giving him a quick peck on the cheek, causing him to smile. He climbed on to Charizard then offered her his hand. She took it and he pulled her up. She smiled as she wrapped her arms around his waist so she wouldn't fall off while they flew. Then she rested her head on his back because she wanted to.

"Aww! Stay right where you are! I need to take a picture of this," said Delia. The two teens blushed, but Cynthia only latched on to him tighter as Delia ran into the house to get her camera.

It was then that Ash made his move.

He put his mouth next to Charizard's ear. "Please, get us out of here before she comes back!" he begged. Charizard gave him a look mixed with pity and amusement before spreading his wings. With a single, powerful flap, he took to the skies and started making his way towards Pewter City, leaving Ash's mother behind and pictureless.

Cynthia tried to ask Ash about his plan for the battle as they flew, but she was unable to hear herself speak over the sound of the wind so she decided she'd ask him later and leaned into him even more. The two of them sat there on Charizard's back, simply enjoying each other's presence as the world flew beneath them. After an hour or so of non-stop flying, Pewter City came into view.

Charizard landed in a rocky field just outside the city's entrance, and the two teens reluctantly separated and jumped off his back. However, Cynthia was a little dizzy after all that flying, and when her feet touched the ground she fell. But before she could scrape herself on the hard rock, Ash grabbed her arm and pulled her back up. She steadied herself then smiled at him. Once she'd recovered from the vertigo, she stood at her full height and took a deep breath.

"Thanks for that." She pecked him on the cheek again and he smiled.

"No problem. I wouldn't want my girlfriend to hurt herself, now would I?" he asked coyly.

Cynthia smirked. "I thought your mom told _me _to protect _you!_" Ash closed his eyes and stuck out his tongue. She laughed. "Come on, you, let's get to the pokemon center." She laced her fingers through his and started leading him towards the city.

He grinned. "Nah, first thing we gotta do is visit Brocko! I haven't seen him in ages!" His face lit up, excited at the thought of seeing his old friend again.

Cynthia looked confused. "Brocko? You mean, Brock Harrison, the guy you traveled with before me?" He nodded.

"That's the one. He's like a big brother to me; I can't wait to see him again! Did I ever tell you how we met?" She shook her head and he immediately began his tale as they walked down the road to Brock's house.

* * *

"...Wait a minute! So you mean to tell me that you won your first badge because of a sprinkler malfunction that allowed you to electrocute a ground type?!" asked Cynthia incredulously, after Ash finished telling her his story.

He chuckled. "Yep, that pretty much sums it up!"

She rolled her eyes and laughed. "Only you, Ash."

He grinned at her. "Although, technically, I never won. His siblings stepped in front of Onix before I could finish him off, and I ended up forfeiting because there was no way I was going to electrocute a bunch of little kids just to win a gym battle. But Brock surprised me. He met up with me in the pokemon center after the match and gave me the badge anyways."

"Wow, that's pretty cool, Ash, but why did he give you the badge?"

"He said I deserved it because I would've won if his siblings hadn't interfered."

Cynthia smiled. "He sounds like a really nice guy. I never had the chance to get to know him all that well when I bumped into your little group back in Sinnoh."

Ash chuckled. "Yeah, he's a cool guy. There's just one problem though."

"What do you mean?" asked Cynthia. He was about to explain all about Brock's Achilles heel, but then he abruptly shut his mouth and stopped walking. She looked at him, confused.

"We're here," he announced. She turned to see what he was staring at, and saw a large. brown house.

"Oh." She smiled at him. "Well, let's go say hi!" He grinned and rang the doorbell.

They heard the sound of shuffling footsteps before a gruff voice that Ash recognized instantly called out to them. "Who is it?"

"An old friend," he replied. The door swung open, revealing a frowning,squinty-eyed man.

"An old friend?" the man asked, confused, having not recognized the voice. He froze when he saw who it was.

"Hey Brocko, long time no see," said Ash, grinning widely. He extended his hand out to shake.

Brock smiled. "It certainly has been a while." He grabbed Ash's hand and pulled him in for a quick man-hug. "So what brings you here, Ash?"

"The Kanto Champion Challenge."

"But that was just announced today!"

"So? I've known about it for weeks."

Brock grinned. "Same old Ash; you never slow down for anything, do you?"

"Nope."

It was then that Brock noticed his old friend had a companion. And it was a certain blonde woman that he recognized immediately. "Cynthia?"

"Hello Brock. It's nice to officially meet you; Ash has told me so much about you." She smiled and Ash rubbed the back of his neck.

Brock frowned. "Good things, I hope."

"I'll leave that to your imagination." Ash stifled a laugh as Brock gave her an awkward smile.

"But what are you doing here with Ash? Didn't you guys split when he decided to go train on his own?" asked Brock, confused.

"Yeah, well..." she laced her fingers with Ash's again, causing a small blush and a happy smile to creep on to his face. Brock raised his eyebrow at the younger boy, confusion etched all over his face.

"My and Cynthia are kinda dating now," explained Ash. Brock's jaw dropped.

"Kinda?" Cynthia questioned innocently.

Ash turned to face her and gulped, afraid to anger his new girlfriend. "We are dating now," he clarified, squeezing her hand tighter. She smiled then pecked him on the cheek, and he let out a poorly concealed sigh of relief.

A very confused look appeared on Brock's face as he struggled to comprehend what he had just been told. Ash Ketchum...has a girlfriend? That can't be right. It's Ash, for crying out loud! He's way too dense to understand love! Unless…just how much had he changed since he started training with Cynthia? "Ash, you, actually have a girlfriend?" he asked, slightly shell-shocked.

Ash frowned. "Is it really that surprising?"

Brock nodded. Cynthia laughed as Ash muttered something about him not having the right to talk. Brock shook his head and a wide smile appeared on his face. "But I'm happy for you man! Congrats! It's about time you got a girl! To be honest, I was starting to think you were gay."

"Hey!" he protested.

Brock held his hands up. "Hey yourself, I've known you since you were ten. Girls have been throwing themselves at you left and right, but you never did a thing about it. What was I supposed to think?"

Ash furrowed his eyebrows and looked at Brock, confused. "What do you mean girls were throwing themselves at me?"

Brock sighed and rubbed his temples. "Ash, every single girl that you've ever traveled with has wanted to go out with you. Misty, May, Dawn. You were just too dense to realize it. And I can list _at least _five others girls off the top of my head that you've met that also wanted to date you. You've had literally the pick of the crop."

Ash blinked in surprise. "Really?"

Brock sighed again. "How do you deal with this?" he asked Cynthia.

She smirked. "I bought this book online: _101 Ways To Train An Ash_. It worked wonders." Ash glared at her while Brock started laughing at the unexpected response. Cynthia mollified her boyfriend with another peck on the cheek and the two waited for Brock to calm down. When he did, his expression grew somber and he put a hand on Ash's shoulder.

"All kidding aside, what I said before is true. There are a lot of girls out there that have feelings for you, Ash. I know you don't like hurting people, but you have to realize that if you date Cynthia, inevitably you'll break a few hearts along the way." Ash gulped at Brock's grave warning and Cynthia squeezed his hand tighter. He looked at her and she smiled reassuringly, letting him know that she'd be there for him when that time came. He smiled back appreciatively and the two stared into each other's eyes for a few moments. They were about to lean in for a kiss before they were rudely interrupted by Brock's cough, reminding them where they were. They blushed and turned their faces away from each other, still holding hands.

"Let's go inside; I'll make something to eat,' Brock offered. "We've got a lot of catching up to do, after all." Ash's stomach growled at the mention of food, and he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. Cynthia laughed as the two followed Brock into the living room.

**Enter Brock! Just so you know, Brock is 21 in this story. I'll try my best to upload the next chapter sooner this time, but I'm not promising anything.**


	14. Chapter 13

**I'm sorry this took so freaking long. I suck at deadlines. It's just that I wasn't allowed to write until after graduation and then my new summer job has just left me exhausted every night and I just couldn't muster the strength to write at night. However, none of that is a good enough excuse for making you all wait this long. I'm really sorry about that. I hope you all enjoy this chapter and I'll do my best to make sure that the next one doesn't take this long.**

Chapter 13

"...And that's my story. So is your dad in, Brocko? I _really _want to get my first champion badge already."

Brock rubbed his temples. "Yeah, he's in, but wow, Ash, that's quite a story. I'm surprised you didn't run into any legendaries though. You usually attract them like moths to honey."

Ash and Cynthia's faces both paled. "We did- ran into a Raikou. Don't want to talk about it," Ash said, shuddering slightly at the memory.

Brock frowned. "Okayyy..." he said, confused, but at the same time very curious. He shook his head slightly; deciding now wasn't the time to find out, he smiled. "Well whatever, ready to get your badge, Ash?"

The young teen's face immediately brightened. "You bet I am! And we're going to win, right Pikachu?" He turned to face the pokemon on his shoulder.

"_You bet, Ash!" _cried Pikachu; although to Brock all he heard was, "_Pika, PikaPi!" _but he worked out the meaning nevertheless.

Brock grinned at his reaction. "Same old Ash, you haven't changed a bit, have you?" Ash rubbed the back of his neck and grinned sheepishly. Brock clapped his hands together and stood up. "Well come on then, my dad's waiting!" Brock started walking to the gym. Ash and Cynthia smiled at each other before standing up to follow him.

* * *

"Hey Dad! You've got a champion badge challenger!" Brock called out as he walked inside the darkened Pewter Gym.

"Already? But the tournament was just announced today!" replied a gruff voice that sounded mildly irritated. The lights turned on and revealed the gym's interior. The outline of the battlefield was engraved in white while the ground was littered with bunches of rocks of varying shapes and sizes. One the side of the battle room- the only part where there were no rocks- were a couple rows of bleachers. A man that looked eerily identical to Brock, only older, walked over to him. "Who's the challenger?" he asked.

"That would be me," said Ash. "Long time no see, Flint."

It was then that Flint noticed that more people than just him and his son were present in the room. He frowned as he took in his new challenger, trying his best- but ultimately failing- to recognize him. "I'm sorry, but who are you?" he asked apologetically.

Ash chuckled. "The challenger."

Cynthia tried, but failed, to hold back a giggle as Flint frowned at Ash. The man then turned to locate the source of the poorly concealed giggle and his eyes widened when he realized that the Sinnoh Champion was standing right in front of him. "Cynthia?! What are you doing here?" His face paled and he took a step back. "Y-you're not here to ch-challenge me too, a-are you?" he asked.

Ash started laughing. Seeing a grown man terrified at the mere possibility of battling against a blonde teenage girl less than half his age was hysterical! So what if she was one of the strongest trainers in the world? It was still funny!

"No. I'm ineligible to compete. I'm just here to cheer on my boyfriend," Cynthia said as she laced her fingers with Ash's, causing the latter's face to flush as he stopped laughing and rubbed the back of his neck.

Flint's jaw dropped. "Boyfriend? You- but you're- what- who is- huh?" His eyes darted back and forth between the two teens, trying even harder now to figure out who his challenger was. Then he remembered something his son had told him a little while ago and it clicked. He stared at his challenger for a few more moments. "Ash? Ash Ketchum?" he guessed.

Ash smiled and offered his free hand. "That's me."

Flint frowned. "But where's your Pikachu?"

Ash laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. "He's at the Pokemon Center, getting some rest. It's good to see you again, Flint." He offered the older man his other hand.

Flint shook it. "Good to see you again too, Ash." He let go of Ash's hand then chuckled. "You know, the media's gonna have a field day when they find out about this, right?" he asked, smirking. Cynthia instantly let go of Ash's hand as the young couple's faces instantly paled.

"Oh Arceus! I completely forgot about the media!" said Ash.

"Me too," admitted Cynthia. The two gulped and shared a worried look.

"Don't worry guys; my father won't snitch on you two," assured Brock. "Isn't that right, dad?" He gave his father a death glare.

Flint raised an eyebrow at his son then laughed. "Don't worry you two, you're secret's safe with me. Besides you came here to battle, not to fret about the media, didn't you Ash?"

A feral grin appeared on Ash's face as he remembered all about the battle, simultaneously forgetting all about the media. "Yeah, that's right!" He made a fist and pointed it at Flint. "I challenge you for a champion badge!" he declared. Cynthia rolled her eyes at Ash's antics with an affectionate smile on her face. Typical Ash.

Flint smirked. "I accept your challenge. But do you really think you can win, Ash? You were the one who tried to fight Brock's Onix with a Pikachu all those years ago."

Ash grinned back. "I've gotten a little better since then. I think me and my team can handle it."

"He's not kidding dad, Ash has gotten a lot stronger," warned Brock. "If he put Pikachu up against Steelix now it would be a slaughter. Steelix wouldn't even last a minute."

Flint's confident grin faded and he cocked an eye at Ash in surprise. "Is that so? Then I expect a battle to remember from you, Ash. But be warned, this battle will be harder than any gym battle you've ever had. The league requires me to use my best Pokemon for this fight instead of the weaker ones we have to use for regular gym battles. We have to treat each CB **(A/N: Champion Badge) **challenger as if they are an actual champion and battle them accordingly- at our best, with our best. No holding back, whatsoever. Still think you can handle it?"

The feral grin on Ash's face grew wider as he clenched his fists in anticipation. "Of course! We can handle anything you throw at us!"

Flint gave him a cocky smirk and walked over his side of the battlefield. "We'll see about that," he said. "Brock, can you referee?"

"Yeah, no problem dad." He walked over to the referee area.

"Take your position Ash, and we can begin," said Flint.

Ash was about to jump on to the field, but stopped when he felt Cynthia tugging on his arm. She smiled at him, then pecked him on the cheek. "Good luck Ash," she said sweetly.

Ash smiled. "Thanks Cynth." He pecked her back then took his place on the field.

"You two really are together, huh?" said Flint. "Man, who would've thought Cynthia would actually have a boyfriend?"

"What do you mean?" asked Ash, confused.

"She sat for an interview this one time where she- nevermind, we're here to battle, not gossip about your girlfriend, Ash." He enlarged a pokeball and threw it. "Golem, let's rock and roll!" he shouted, as the large, dual rock and ground was released from his pokeball and let out a mighty roar.

Brock groaned at his father's obligatory pun.

Ash enlarged and threw a pokeball of his own, the feral grin reappearing on his face. "Sceptile, let's start off our champion challenge with a bang!" he cried, as the grass type emerged and crossed his arms in an attempt to look cool.

"_Show me whatcha've got!" _challenged Golem, motioning with his fingers to 'bring it.' Sceptile smirked and flipped his twig at him in response.

Flint turned towards his son and nodded. Brock nodded back. "This will be an official three-on-three champion badge battle between Gym Leader Flint Stone of Pewter City and the challenger Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town. As this is not a gym battle, but a CB battle, substitutions are allowed on both sides. Are both participants ready?"

"I'm ready."

"You bet!"

"Very well then. The challenger has the first move. Golem vs. Sceptile, begin!" Brock raised his arm to Ash's side, signaling the start of the match. Cynthia snickered at Brock's officialness.

Ash quickly surveyed the battlefield for something that might give him the advantage before giving his first command.

"Energy Ball!"

Sceptile grinned in anticipation of the battle. He charged a green ball of grass type energy in his mouth, then fired it at Golem.

"Use Rollout to dodge!" countered Flint. Golem curled into a ball and easily dodged the Energy Ball as he circled around the battlefield. "Good job! Now keep circling Sceptile until you max out your speed, then attack!"

Ash smirked. "That's not going to work, Flint! Sceptile, Leaf Blade his head once he gets close!" Sceptile nodded and crouched. His arm blades glowed green and he narrowed his eyes, watching for the right time to strike.

"Golem, he's bluffing! There's no way he can pinpoint where your head is while you're using Rollout, stick to our strategy!" Golem continued spinning around Sceptile for a while until Flint decided it was finally enough. "Now Golem!" he cried.

"You know what to do!" called Ash. Sceptile smirked, his eyes never leaving his opponent. Right before Golem was about to run him over, Sceptile swiftly dodged to the right and slammed his Leaf Blade down hard. It collided with Golem's head and sent him sprawling on to the ground, sending dirt everywhere. When the dust cleared, Golem was revealed to be unconscious. Flint's jaw dropped.

"Golem is unable to battle, Sceptile is the winner!" declared Brock, holding his arm up to Ash's side, completely nonplussed at Sceptile's one-hit KO win. "Leader Flint, please sent out your next pokemon!"

"Woohoo! Go Ash!" cheered Cynthia.

Ash and Sceptile looked at Golem and blinked simultaneously.

"Is that it?" asked Ash in disbelief.

"_I didn't even hit him that hard,"_ said Sceptile, disappointed.

They shared a look.

"Damn! Sceptile, I knew you'd gotten stronger, but this is just ridiculous," said Ash, rubbing the back of his neck. Sceptile shrugged in response and Ash rolled his eyes playfully. "Well, who's next?" he asked Flint as his feral grin came back.

He didn't get an immediate response. Flint was still in shock that his Golem had lost so quickly. It took Ash calling his name a few times of to get his attention.

"Flint! Flint! Hey, Flint, you there?"

Flint blinked. "Huh?"

"We still battling or what?" asked Ash, sounding slightly disappointed.

"Leader Flint, please send out your next pokemon," repeated Brock.

That finally snapped Flint out of his stupor. He looked at Golem before hastily returning him to his pokeball and enlarging another. "Sorry about that, I just can't believe that strategy of yours actually worked! Talk about unexpected!"

Ash rubbed the back of his neck again. "Yeah, I get that alot."

Flint smiled. "Well it's clear you've trained your Sceptile well; Golem hasn't lost that fast since I battled Lance. But I can guarantee he won't have such an easy time beating my next pokemon! Rhyperior, let's rock and roll!" He threw the pokeball into the air and his Rhyperior landed on the battlefield with a heavy thud.

Ash grinned at the new, powerful looking opponent. "This one looks like more of a challenge! You ready, Sceptile?"

"_Of course!"_

"Rhyperior vs. Sceptile, begin!" announced Brock, holding his arm up to signal the start of the battle.

"Rhyperior, let's take him out quickly! Rock Blast!" cried Flint. Rhyperior roared and started blasting rocks out of his horn like bullets.

"Sceptile, use quick attack to dodge and get in close!" ordered Ash. Sceptile's legs glowed white as he used his superior agility to avoid each rock. "Follow up with Leaf Blade!" he yelled, once Sceptile had gotten close enough.

"Take it!" commanded Flint, knowing that Sceptile was far too close for Rhyperior to dodge. Sceptile arm blades glowed green again as he swiped at Rhyperior four times then quickly jumped out of the way. When the dust settled, Rhyperior looked perfectly fine. He roared, letting Ash and Sceptile know this battle was far from over.

Ash blinked, surprised that attack combo didn't do more damage. "But how did he- wait, he has solid rock, doesn't he?" accused Ash.

Flint smirked. "That's right! Solid rock- an ability where a pokemon only takes a quarter of the damage done from super effective moves."

"I know what the ability does Flint, I'm not a beginner trainer anymore!"

Flint scratched his cheek apologetically. "Sorry about that, Ash. But regardless, your Sceptile doesn't stand a chance now!"

Ash grinned in response. "We'll see about that!" He turned his attention back to Sceptile. "You ready, buddy?" Sceptile smirked at his trainer. "Time for round two!" announced Ash. "Leech Seed!" Sceptile took his twig out, then spat out a green seed from his mouth that landed on Rhyperior's face before putting his twig back in.

"_That was gross," _stated Rhyperior, as he wiped the saliva off as best he could before the Leech Seed sprouted and released vines that quickly wrapped around Rhyperior's body. The vines glowed red as they sucked out some of Rhyperior's energy and transferred it to Sceptile.

"Rhyperior, no!" cried Flint.

"Quick, Leaf Blade again!" ordered Ash. Sceptile darted forward, his arms glowing green once again.

"Not this time!" Flint yelled. "Use Ice Punch!" Rhyperior's arm glowed blue as he dealt Sceptile a devastating, super effective move to the gut. The green glow on Sceptile's arms faded as his eyes widened in pain. "Now follow up with Rock Wrecker, Rhyperior! Send him flying!"

"Toxic!"

Sceptile spat a blob of purple goo at Rhyperior's face, poisoning him, before he was bashed in the side by a huge rock twice his size, and was sent hurtling towards the other end of the field.

"Sceptile, use Synthesis now, while he can't move!" instructed Ash. The bulbs on Sceptile's back began to glow and he started to get back on his feet as he felt the sun's energy replenish his own. The vines on Rhyperior glowed red again, siphoning more energy from him and transferring it to Sceptile, helping him recover even more.

Flint grit his teeth. "Rhyperior, stone edge!" he commanded. Rhyperior grunted and fired a barrage of stones straight at Sceptile.

"Transfer the extra energy from Synthesis and use it to power a Solar Beam! Blast those rocks to dust!" countered Ash. The bulbs on Sceptile's back continued to glow as he charged a white beam in his mouth. "NOW!". Sceptile roared and fired the powerful grass type attack. The stones crumbled to bits and Ash was pleasantly surprised when the attack kept going and hit Rhyperior.

Flint gritted his teeth again as his pokemon took even more damage. Just what was it going to take to knock out this Sceptile? "Megahorn!" he ordered. Rhyperior's horn glowed as he charged in once more.

"Match it with Aerial Ace! Then use Leaf Blade once more!" Sceptile grinned as he rushed forward, his left arm glowing white and his right one glowing green. Rhyperior tucked his head in and tried to stab Sceptile with his Megahorn, but Sceptile surprised Flint once again by parrying the attack with his one-armed Aerial Ace then slashing at Rhyperior with his other-armed Leaf Blade, drilling Rhyperior painfully into the ground.

"NO!" screamed Flint. He had been outplayed again! Ash smirked at the gym leader, who clenched his fists as he tried to devise a strategy for taking out Sceptile that would actually work. He glanced at his panting pokemon, who was doing his best to get up. He slowly managed to stand, only to fall to one knee as he took more damage from the poison and Leech Seed combo. Flint gritted his teeth again. "Rhyperior, we need to end this quick! Earthquake! Then, while he's off balance, use Rock Wrecker, full power!" he commanded. Rhyperior roared in pain as the poison drained even more of his energy. But he ignored it and slammed his foot on to the ground, hard. The entire battlefield shook, consequently causing Sceptile to stumble and lose his footing.

"'NOW! DO IT!" roared Flint.

"_It's over!" _shouted Rhyperior, as he launched the most powerful rock type attack at Sceptile once more.

"I don't think so, Flint! Sceptile, use Detect!" The forest pokemon's eyes glinted as he dodged Rhyperior's attack, moving so quickly it could've been mistaken for teleportation. The Rock Wrecker attack sailed past him and crashed into the ground, leaving a huge crater in its wake. Ash pumped his fist into the air. "Now use Leaf Storm! Finish this!"

"_Now it's over!" _corrected Sceptile, as he fired his heavy barrage of sharp-edged leaves.

"Rhyperior, dodge!" cried Flint desperately. But it was too late. Rhyperior couldn't move after using Rock Wrecker, and the Leaf Storm hit home. The poison and Leech Seed combo struck again, this time finally proving to be too much for the drill pokemon to handle. With a heavy thud, he fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Rhyperior is unable to battle, Sceptile is the winner!" declared Brock, lifting his arm up to Ash's side. "Leader Flint, please send out your final pokemon!"

"Woohoo! Go Ash!" cheered Cynthia. Ash smiled at her.

Flint returned Rhyperior to his pokeball in a flash of red light and enlarged another. "Well Ash, that Sceptile of yours is very strong, but with the damage he's taken, he won't win this round." He threw the ball into the air. "Let's rock and roll, girl!" A Tyranitar emerged and let out a huge roar.

Ash chuckled. "Sceptile, as much as I'd _love _to prove him wrong, I think it's time we let the others have some fun, ok?"

"_Fine, but I'm battling in the next gym too, right Ash?"_

"If I need a third battler, then yes."

Sceptile groaned and crossed his arms. "_You know you're not going to need a third battler! Pikachu's in that one!"_

Ash laughed. "He's only in it if I need a second battler."

Sceptile groaned again. "_So not fair."_

"Sorry buddy," Ash said as he returned the grass type to his pokeball. He then enlarged another one. "Floatzel, let's go!" he cried, as the Sea Weasel pokemon was released in a flash of white light.

"_Finally!" _yelled Floatzel as he materialized on to the field. He glanced at his opponent. "_A Tyranitar? Hell yeah! This is gonna be awesome!"_

Tyranitar looked offended. "_Please refrain from such vulgar language in front of a lady."_

Floatzel blinked. "_What're you talkin' about?"_

Tyranitar sighed. "_Wonderful, this one has no manners either. As if I don't get enough of that kind of behavior from Golem." _She adopted a fighting stance. "_Let's make this battle quick; I have things to do."_

Floatzel's look of confusion changed to a feral grin at the word 'battle.' "_I have no idea what you're talkin' about woman, but if it's a battle you want, it's a battle you'll get! Let's do this, Ash!"_

"Yeah!" cried Ash, pumping his fist in the air.

Tyranitar sighed again. "_Boys," _she muttered. Cynthia giggled.

"Tyranitar vs. Floatzel, begin!" announced Brock, lifting his arm once more to signal the start of the battle.

Ash cupped his hands to his mouth and called out to his pokemon. "Floatzel, my blood is still boiling from the last two battles. Do me a favor and cool me off with Rain Dance?"

Floatzel grinned. "_No problem Ash, but don't blame me if you catch a cold." _He lifted his paws to the sky and more and more rain clouds started forming around the battlefield until they burst and it was suddenly raining indoors.

Ash grinned. "Thanks buddy, but I think Tyranitar is still a little too hot. Why don't you be a gentleman and cool her off with Water Pulse?"

"_It would be my pleasure!" _said Floatzel. He bowed to Tyranitar, who rolled her eyes at him. Floatzel then charged a sphere of water in his paws and fired it at her.

Flint had no idea what the pokemon were saying, but he knew that the Water Pulse would be trouble. "Ignore the banter; focus on the fight, Tyranitar!" he admonished. "Dodge that Water Pulse, then use Stone Edge!" Showcasing surprising mobility for someone of her size, Tyranitar avoided Floatzel's attack then immediately proceeded to pelt him with stones.

Ash clenched his fists together in excitement as a happy smile spread on to his face. He loved using this technique. "Countershield!" he said giddily.

"Counter what?" said Flint, confused. He had never heard of that move before.

Suddenly, Floatzel began to spin on the floor while using Hydro Pump, sending water flying everywhere, dissipating the stones, and damaging Tyranitar all at the same time. The dual rock and dark type let out a roar of pain as the super effective move hit home over and over again.

"No, Tyranitar!" cried Flint. He grit his teeth and clenched his fists in frustration. In all his years of battling, he had never encountered someone like Ash before. It was just one crazy strategy after another with this kid! How the hell was he supposed to win like this?!

"Tyranitar, try and use Earthquake to unbalance him!" he pleaded. Tyranitar ignored the torrent of water repeatedly crashing into her and slammed her foot down on the floor, causing the Earth to crack and crumble. Thrown off balance, Floatzel could no longer continue to spin and the stream of water stopped.

"Finally! Now, use Thunder Punch!" cried Flint, hoping to finally shift the momentum in his favor. Tyranitar rushed up to Floatzel, fist crackling with electricity.

"Floatzel, Ice Aqua Jet!" ordered Ash.

"Wait! Ice what?" said Flint, confused again.

Floatzel quickly stood up and his right paw started to glow with the Icy blue energy of an Ice Punch while the rest of his body was enveloped in water. He rocketed forward in a normal Aqua Jet before starting to spin again. He then punched the water around him, freezing it solid. The result was that Floatzel was surrounded in a beautiful spinning icy Torpedo headed straight for Tyranitar.

The armour pokemon punched the spinning Floatzedo with her Thunder Punch. The two were momentarily locked in a power struggle, before Floatzel broke through and overpowered Tyranitar. His Ice Aqua Jet painfully slammed into her chest and sent her hurtling backwards.

Flint growled as Tyranitar slowly stood back up, panting heavily. The sight of his pokemon struggling to stand, while Ash's bounced on its feet, motioning for him to 'bring it' was slightly infuriating. Ash was supposed to be the challenger, not him!

"No more messing around! Thunder!" Tyranitar roared and sent a huge arc of electricity at Floatzel. Ash's smirk disappeared for the first time that round.

"Agility to dodge, quick!" he said, seriously. Floatzel noticed the change in his trainer's tone and his legs instantly became surrounded in white energy as he bounded out of the way. The grin on his face was gone and was instead replaced by an intense look of concentration. "Now Hydro Pump, on the ground!" Floatzel didn't even hesitate to comply with the weird command and instantly fired a torrent of water at the floor.

Flint growled again. He knew Ash had to be planning something, but he had no idea what kind of harebrained scheme he was cooking up to this time. "Tyranitar, use Dark Pulse as cover to get in close for a Thunder Punch!" Tyranitar fired the three pronged beam of dark energy then rushed in at Floatzel, fist once again crackling with electricity. However, she only got about halfway before she tripped in the newly created mud and fell to the floor, face first.

"They fell for it!" whooped Ash. "Floatzel use Hydro Pump! Then follow it up with a dual Brick Break!" Floatzel fired the powerful blast of water at Tyranitar then rushed in closer, spinning his two tails to help him maneuver through the mud more quickly.

"No! Tyranitar, get up and dodge, hurry!" cried Flint. But it was too late. Just as she stood up, she was nailed in the face with the Hydro Pump. She closed her eyes as she fell painfully back into the mud.

When she opened them, Floatzel was directly above her, his paws glowing white. She looked into his eyes, already knowing the outcome of the battle. He smirked at her before delivering two powerful Brick Breaks to her gut.

"Finish it with Sonicboom!" Floatzel jumped back and fired a sonic shock wave at Tyranitar before landing on his feet and waiting for the dust to clear. When it did, it showed an unconscious Tyranitar.

"Tyranitar is unable to battle, Floatzel is the winner! Which means the victory goes to the challenger, Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town!" announced Brock, raising his arm on Ash's side for the final time to signal his victory.

**Again, I'm really sorry this took so long to come out. I'll do my best to make sure the next chapter comes out much sooner. Hope you all enjoyed this one and don't forget to leave a review!**


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"Tyranitar is unable to battle, Floatzel is the winner! Which means the victory goes to the challenger, Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town!" announced Brock, raising his arm on Ash's side for the final time to signal his victory.

Ash didn't say anything. He just stood there in a bit of a stupor.

"Woohoo! I knew you could do it, Ash!" cried Cynthia as she rushed down from the bleachers.

That managed to bring Ash back to reality. He shared a look with Floatzel and a goofy grin appeared on his face. "YES! WE DID IT!" he roared, pumping his fist into the air. He then let out an "oomph" as Cynthia tackled him into a hug. He hugged her back with one arm and gently patted her head with the other, which- as he had learned during their travels together- was something she _greatly _enjoyed. She sighed in content and leaned into his chest.

He stopped petting her and she raised her head and leaned in closer. Their lips were less than an inch apart, but then they heard a cough behind them and they instantly separated, remembering where they were. They stared at the ground, both faces a healthy shade of crimson. Slowly, they raised their heads and were met with Floatzel's mischievous smirk.

_"Damn! In public, Ashy-boy? Didn't know you had it in you. What d'you think the others would say if they heard about this, eh?" _he teased.

Ash paled. "Floatzel, I'm begging you, please don't tell the others."

The Sea Otter Pokemon put a paw on his chin, pretending to think hard about it. _"I don't know; I'm sure they would love to hear about this bold new Ash. And they really wouldn't like it if I didn't tell them about it. Gardevoir especially would get super mad at me," _he said, putting extra emphasis on the word 'super.' His eyes glinted mischievously.

Ash whimpered, knowing Floatzel was going to tell them all no matter what. He held up his pokeball. "Return," he said solemnly.

_"Hey, wait! Ash, no, I was jo-" _said Floatzel, before he was cut off by the beam of light returning him to his pokeball. Ash whimpered again, knowing that even if Floatzel had been joking, now he would definitely tell the others just out of spite. He sighed and hung his head. Cynthia squeezed his hand and gave him a peck on the cheek to try and cheer him up. It worked.

"I still can't believe you got yourself a girlfriend, Ash," said Brock, shaking his head at the two teens. Ash blushed and squeezed Cynthia's fingers tighter.

"I'm more amazed that Cynthia has a boyfriend, to be honest," said Flint, coming up from behind them. "After that interview she had I thought she'd stay single forever."

"What interview?" asked Ash curiously.

"Well, a few years ago, she-"

"Hey Flint, shouldn't you give Ash his badge now?" asked Cynthia sweetly. She gave the old man an icy glare. Ash's eyes darted between Flint and Cynthia.

Flint gulped. "Uh- yeah, that's right." He cleared his throat. "Ash Ketchum, as proof of your victory at the Pewter City gym, I award you with this Champion Badge." He took a small badge out of his pocket and handed it to Ash. The badge was gray with a gold perimeter and about two inches wide in diameter. A three-dimensional picture of a rock was on the bottom and the word "Pewter" was printed above it in golden cursive.

Ash stared at it for a moment, taking it in. A wide smile appeared on his face. "I won...a Champion Badge!" He posed, raising the badge into the air while simultaneously flashing the peace sign. Cynthia rolled her eyes endearingly at Ash's childishness.

"Aren't you a little too old now to pose every time you win a badge, Ash?" asked Brock, smirking. Ash responded by sticking out his tongue. Brock chuckled.

"I can't believe this _kid_ beat me," grumbled Flint, unhappily.

"So Ash, where are we going next?" asked Cynthia, smiling.

"Cerulean City!" he declared, his eyes twinkling. "I can't wait to see Misty again! I wonder how much better she's gotten at battling?"

"Be careful, Ash," warned Brock. "Misty's one of the best gym leaders in Kanto now. The only gyms that are ranked higher than hers are Blaine's and the one in Viridian City."

Ash's jaw dropped for a second before his feral grin returned. "Oh man, if that's true, then I can't wait for our battle! It's going to be so awesome!"

Brock smiled at Ash's enthusiasm, before his face turned serious. He leaned in closer and whispered into Ash's ear. "Just don't forget what I told you before, Ash; Misty still has a crush on you."

Ash gulped and his face turned serious. "Don't worry Brock, I'll let her down gently. Misty is my friend, I don't want to hurt her any more than you do," he whispered back. "Besides, you know me," he said outloud. "Tact and diplomacy are my forte." He grinned and gave Brock the thumbs-up. Brock smiled and Cynthia started laughing.

"Take care, Ash. Good luck with your CB challenge; I'm rooting for you!" said Brock. He drew Ash in for a brotherly hug.

"Thanks Brock," said Ash, as he hugged him back. They separated and Brock put a hand on his shoulder.

"Win the whole damn thing."

Ash nodded once, eyes gleaming with determination. He turned to his girlfriend. "Let's go, Cynthia! I've got another CB battle to get to!"

"And win," Cynthia added, poking his nose. Ash pecked her cheek, causing Cynthia to giggle and latch onto his arm.

"Take care, Brock-o! You better come watch my Elite Four battles!"

"Of course! I wouldn't miss those for the world! Take care, Ash." Brock waved goodbye.

Ash grinned and waved back. With Cynthia still hanging on his arm, he exited the gym.

* * *

"How long 'till we get to Cerulean?" asked Cynthia, trying to sweep her long, blonde hair out of her face. The two were once again flying on Charizard, and as such, she had to scream just to make herself heard.

Ash had decided after his Pewter City battle that he would fly from gym to gym. This way he could get the CB's faster which would give him more time to train for his Elite Four battles (and spend with Cynthia).

Ash looked back over his shoulder and smiled. Even with her hair completely frazzled by the wind, Cynthia still looked beautiful. "At the rate we're going, I'd say another hour or so," he yelled back. "It took us about an hour and a half to get from Pallet to Pewter. We've only been flying for half an hour and it's roughly the same distance from Pewter to Cerulean."

Cynthia nodded. "Let me guess, we're going straight to the gym once we get there?" she teased.

Ash chuckled. "No, Pokemon Center first. I want to get Floatzel and Sceptile checked out and I need to make a transfer." He looked to his right. A familiar looking flying type was gliding alongside them, 200 lb weights attached to each of his wings and claws, and a sleeping Pikachu on his back. "And Staraptor will probably need a rest too. How you holding up there, buddy? Are those weights too heavy?"

Staraptor flapped his wings and grimaced. _"I assure you, Ash, this-this is nothing," _he panted. _"I could- keep this up- all day- no problem." _He winced as the weight dragged him down again, and he had to flap his wings extra hard to stay airborne.

Ash frowned. "You sure, Staraptor? You don't sound like you're doing so good. Maybe you should take a break?"

Staraptor cawed indignantly. _"No! I'm fine, Ash! I can keep going!"_

_"Take a breather kid," _suggested Charizard. _"We don't need a repeat of Garchomp."_

Staraptor waited for a bit to catch his breath before answering. _"I appreciate the concern, Charizard. However, it is- unnecessary. I- assure you- I will be just fine."_

Ash rubbed the back of his neck. He was still concerned, but if Staraptor wanted to continue then he wouldn't stop him. "Alright, but don't overdo it, Staraptor. You know what happened to Garchomp; pushing yourself is good, but too much is bad for your health. I don't want you to hurt yourself, understand?"

Staraptor smiled. _"I understand, Ash. I assure you- I will not- push myself- to the same extremes- as Garchomp."_

Ash sighed then nodded. "Alright then, just be careful." Staraptor nodded once then flapped his wings and continued flying in silence. He wanted to avoid any more unnecessary conversations so he could direct his focus towards staying airborne. Ash on the other hand, turned his head the other way. If he couldn't see Staraptor then he could almost ignore the stabbing pain of worry that had lodged itself in his gut.

Meanwhile, Cynthia beamed at him. It always amazed her to see how much Ash cared about his Pokemon. She hugged Ash tighter and rested her head on his back.

"Never change Ash," was all she said. Ash blushed a little and rubbed the back of his neck. He was a little confused, but he was enjoying the feeling of Cynthia laying on his back and wasn't going to question it.

* * *

"Hey Ash, isn't that Mount Moon?" asked Cynthia a little while later. She pointed over his shoulder at a mountain in the distance.

Ash looked to see where she was pointing at. He turned around to face her and smiled. "Yup, that's Mount Moon," he confirmed. "Want to get a closer look?" Cynthia nodded eagerly. "Alright then, Charizard bring us down to the mountain, please."

"_You got it, Ash," _said the fire type, as he began his descent.

"Staraptor, you follow behind us. Once we land I'll take those weights off you so you can take a break." Staraptor nodded, too exhausted to speak.

They landed at the base of the mountain. Ash thanked Charizard for his help and returned him to his ball. Meanwhile, Pikachu jumped off of Staraptor and on to the ground next to Ash while he took the weights off of Staraptor.

"I'm proud of you, Staraptor. You handled those weights like a pro," praised Ash, gently stroking the flying type's crest. "You did an amazing job, now take a good rest." Staraptor smiled at the praise and gave a tired caw in thanks before he was returned to his pokeball in a flash of red light.

Cynthia and Ash held hands again as they took in the giant mountain looming above them.

"Impressive, isn't it? Mount Moon is the tallest mountain in Kanto," said Ash.

Cynthia shrugged. "Mount Coronet is bigger," she replied.

Ash chuckled. "True, but Mount Moon is still pretty cool."

"True." The two teens smiled at each other.

"_So what are we going to do now, Ash?" _asked Pikachu after a few minutes had passed. "_Did we only come to Mount Moon for some sightseeing?"_

"Pretty much," he answered. "Unless there's something you want to do here, Cynthia?"

She shook her head. "I just wanted to get a closer look."

Ash smirked and grabbed her waist with one arm. "This close enough for you?"

Cynthia smiled back. "Very, thank you." Ash leaned in closer and kissed her. She immediately started kissing him back, and it soon turned into a passionate make-out session as she threw her arms around his neck to deepen the kiss and he started running his other hand through her hair. It was the first time the two had been alone together (or at least away from other humans) and weren't flying since they'd confessed to each other last night and both had some intense emotions to get out of their system. They would have kept it up forever, but unfortunately for them, human lungs require a constant supply of oxygen. Reluctantly, they separated, both gasping for air, as they stared into each other's eyes.

They were about to lean in for Round Two when they were interrupted by a small, yellow mouse. "_Arceus, get a room, you two," _said Pikachu, disgruntled. Ash and Cynthia blinked at each other then looked down at him. He was squirming and looked extremely uncomfortable.

Ash rubbed the back of his neck and separated from Cynthia. "Sorry buddy, forgot you were there."

Pikachu sighed. "_Whatever, just try not to-" _Suddenly, Pikachu's ears perked up and he froze, the rest of his sentence forever lost to the world. "_Did you hear that?" _he whispered.

"Yes, I did," replied Ash darkly, sharing a look with Pikachu.

"Hear what?" asked Cynthia, confused and a little scared by the sudden change in Ash's tone.

"_Shh!" _shushed Pikachu. His ears perked again as he listened for the sound.

"Ash, what's going-" Cynthia began. She stopped when she saw the position Ash was in. He was down on one knee with his palm on the ground and his eyes closed, face seemingly devoid of emotion as he concentrated. But that wasn't even the strangest part. Ash was glowing- yes, actually glowing- blue! Her eyes widened as she realized what he was doing. "Aura," she breathed, awestruck. "He's using aura." She knew that Ash could use aura; in fact, he'd been the one to teach her how to use aura to talk to pokemon she was close to. However, this was the first time she'd seen Ash (or anyone, for that matter) using aura for something other than communication. That was all she could do with it, and Ash had never used aura for anything else. Seeing him using it now, it was just incredible!

She stared in silence, mouth agape, when suddenly she heard a faint cry from afar. She jumped. "What was that?" she asked, worriedly. "It sounded like a pokemon screaming."

The blue glow around Ash faded. His eyes snapped open, and Cynthia was stunned to see that his eyes were glowing the same blue color. "That's exactly what it is, Cynthia," he confirmed, and Cynthia was shocked by how angry he sounded. "Two pokemon are being hunted down about half a mile that way." He pointed in the right direction and his eyes returned to their usual color. "One person pursuing them. Any idea what pokemon they are, Pikachu?"

"_I don't know. My sense of smell is good, but they're too far away to say for sure," _he said bitterly.

Ash smiled, crouched down, and pat Pikachu behind his ears. "Don't feel bad about it, buddy; it doesn't matter if you can tell what pokemon it is or not. All that matters is that we go and rescue them, agreed?"

Pikachu screwed his face up in determination. "_Agreed!" _He jumped on to Ash's shoulder.

Ash turned to his girlfriend. "Cynthia, you stay here. I'll be back once I save the pokemon."

That snapped Cynthia out of her trance. "No way, Ash!" She put her hands on her hips. "There's no way I'm letting you do this all by yourself! Those people chasing those pokemon could be dangerous!"

"Exactly! They could be dangerous! Remember what happened with Raikou?" he countered. She shuddered involuntarily as the memory was brought to the surface. "I don't want you getting hurt again, Cynth," he added softly.

Cynthia shook her head, crossed her arms over her chest, then looked him straight in the eye. "That won't happen again, Ash. I have my pokemon with me this time."

"But Cynth-"

"ASH KETCHUM, I AM THE CHAMPION OF THE SINNOH REGION!" she bellowed. Ash reflexively took a step back. "I may not be as experienced in rescuing pokemon as you are, but I can take care of myself in a battle, and I will not let you go play the hero all alone this time! I'm coming with you, and that's that!" She had a short, but furious, staring contest with Ash.

He sighed. "Fine, but just- stay safe Cynth, please."

Her stern glare softened at the desperation in his voice. "I will Ash, but you better not do anything reckless either, you hear me?" She poked him lightly in the chest. "Your mother would never let me hear the end of it if you got hurt."

Ash smiled. "Me? Reckless? I think you must be confusing me for someone else, Cynth. I never do anything reckless."

"Haha," she said dryly. "Come on, you, let's go. Pokemon are waiting for us."

* * *

Dragonair's day just kept getting worse and worse. That morning, she had finally worked up the courage to confess to the Dragonite she had a crush on. However, he had not only rejected her, but belittled her in front of the entire tribe. And so, heartbroken and ashamed, she flew to the lake. After about an hour of crying her eyes out, her best friend, Clefairy, had caught up to her. She had heard about her friend's failed confession and wanted to try and cheer her up. However, she hadn't gotten more than two words out, before they were both attacked by a poacher.

Before Dragonair could even blink, the poacher had ordered his Tyranitar to use Hyper Beam on her. Too shocked to move, she could only watch helplessly as the powerful beam came closer and closer. She closed her eyes to brace for the pain, but it never came. Slowly, she opened them, and they widened in horror at what lay before her. Clefairy- that stupid, wonderful pokemon- had jumped in front of the attack to save her. And now she lay motionless on the ground.

Dragonair screamed and fired the most powerful Dragon Rage she could. The Tyranitar dodged the attack, but it kicked up dirt in the poacher's face. In those precious few seconds that he couldn't see, she picked up her friend with her tail, put her on her back, and levitated away as fast as she could. Thank Arceus, Clefairy was still breathing! But despite her speed, she still wasn't fast enough to get away. The poacher had managed to catch up to her, thanks to his Salamence, and now she stood with her back against the mountain- nowhere to run or hide- with the poacher, his Salamence, and his Tyranitar surrounding her. She set Clefairy down and prepared to fight, even though she knew it was hopeless against these two behemoths.

"Finally caught you, you little pest!" the poacher snarled. His voice was deep and menacing, and caused Dragonair to shudder in fear. He saw how Dragonair was prepared to fight and laughed. "You can't be serious! Are you an idiot or something? You don't stand a chance, kid. Just give up now or you'll end up the same as that retarded Clefairy."

"_Just give up, sweetheart. I'd hate to have to hurt such a pretty, little Dragonair,"_ said Salamence. He licked his lips. "_Maybe once this is over me and you could spend some quality time together, eh?"_

"_Never! I'll never give in to you!" _she yelled defiantly, but the fear in her voice was palpable. The poacher couldn't understand what the two pokemon were saying, but he heard the fear in Dragonair's voice and saw the lecherous look on Salamence's face.

"Salamence, you crazy bastard!" He laughed maniacally. "I should've expected this. She's all yours man, just don't cripple her, understand? If she ends up losing a wing like the last bitch I let you have your way with, then we can't sell her." He recalled Tyranitar and stood back to let Salamence have his fun.

"_Don't worry, boss. I'll be real good to her." _He licked his lips again, and started walking slowly towards her.

Dragonair's eyes widened in fear. "_N-no! St-stay back!" _she stammered. She fired another Dragon Rage that hit Salamence right in the face and kicked dirt up, obscuring her vision. She let out a sigh of relief. "_I-I got him!" _She looked back at Clefairy, who was still unconscious. Maybe there was a chance she could escape!

Suddenly, she heard booming laughter. She quickly turned her head around, and her eyes widened in fear. There was Salamence, perfectly fine, not even a scratch on him.

"_Looks like the little girl's got some fight in her! Good, I like 'em feisty! But now it's MY turn!" _He roared and fired a Dragon Pulse. She barely had time to brace for the impact before the super effective attack slammed into her. The next thing she knew, a high powered Dragon Claw sent her barreling into the mountain side. She screamed in pain as she fell to the ground. A savage smile appeared on Salamence's face. "_Give up, little girl. You can't beat me. Just submit and I'll start making you feel really good." _He licked his lips again.

Dragonair looked up at Salamence, terrified, as he slowly made his way over to her, licking his lips again, and clearly enjoying her despair. She turned to her still unconscious friend and started to cry. "_I'm sorry Clefairy, but this is it, I'm finished."_ She started getting angry at the injustice of it all. "_This isn't fair! What did I ever do to deserve this?! I've done nothing wrong! I've been a good pokemon, so why Arceus? Why me?!" _Salamence was a foot away from her, cackling like a madman, and she could feel herself losing consciousness. "_Somebody, please save me!"_ she cried.

"_It's no use, little girly. We're miles away from any human or pokemon," _taunted Salamence. "_Nobody's coming to save you. It's over!" _He raised a claw to strike.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" cried a voice.

"_Get away from her!" _cried another, and Salamence lit up like a Christmas tree as he was blasted with electricity.

"Now, Iron Tail!"

"_With pleasure!" _A yellow blur sped into Salamence, sending him flying back to the poacher.

The last thing Dragonair remembered was a raven-haired boy standing in front of her, arms outstretched to defend her.

"Don't worry; I'll protect you," he declared, as she slipped into unconsciousness. There was just something about him, maybe it was the calming aura he seemed to posses, or maybe it was the fact that she was so incredibly desperate, but when he spoke those words…

She believed him.

**And there it is Chapter 14!**

**I know, cliffhanger, I'm so evil! But the chapter would've been too long otherwise.**

**Don't forget to leave a review! Oh, and I won't be able to post a new chapter for a while, the next chapter will be an A/N explaining why, but I will get back to the story as soon as I can.**


	16. AN

**Hey everybody!**

**So, to explain why I won't be able to upload for a while. I'm in Israel, studying abroad. I'm going to be here for a year and the school I go to forbids laptops of any kind. They have a computer room, which is how I'm able to upload this, but I can't be on it all the time. If I do upload, it won't be very often, maybe months at a time, if at all. I'm sorry if anyone is upset about that, especially after I left you all with a cliffhanger last chapter, but as they say, "all good things to those who wait." Once the year is up and I have access to a laptop again, I will continue writing the story. I promise though, that I will not abandon this story. I will finish it one day, mark my words!**

**And with that, I bid you all adieu!**


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